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Fifth  Bishop  of  Connecticut. 
Consecrated  in  Trinity  Church,  New  Haven,  October  28,  1897. 


of  C§ut*§  JSife  in 
Connecticut 


BEING  THE  STORY  OF  THE 
TRANSPLANTING  OF  THE 
CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND  INTO 
FORTY-TWO  PARISHES  OF 
CONNECTICUT,  WITH  THE 
ASSISTANCE  OF  THE 
SOCIETY  FOR  THE  PROPA- 
GATION OF  THE  GOSPEL 
WRITTEN  BY  MEMBERS  OF 
THE  PARISHES  IN  CELEBRA- 
TION OF  THE  200TH  ANNI- 
VERSARY OF  THE  SOCIETY 


EDITED   BY 

LUCY  GUSHING   JARVIS 


NEW  HAVEN,  CONN.  : 

THE  TUTTLE,  MOREHOUSE  &  TAYLOR  COMPANY 
1902 


Copyright,  1902 

by 
LUCY  GUSHING  JARVIS 


StacK 

Annex 

ft 


Sable  of  Contents 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS.  5 

PREFATORY  NOTE.  Rt.  Rev.  C.  B.  Brewster  7 

ENDORSEMENT.  Committee  on  Parochial  Archives  8 

CONNECTICUT  CELEBRATION  OF  2OOTH  ANNIVERSARY  OF  THE 

S.  P.  G.  Editor      9-  12 

THE  PLACE  OF  AMERICA  IN  RELIGIOUS  HISTORY.  Editor    13-  16 

OUTLINE  OF  THE  S.  P.  G.  IN  CONNECTICUT. 

Rev.  Samuel  Hart,  D.D.     17-  21 
PAROCHIAL  HISTORIES: — 

Bloomfield 75-  79 

Branford  118-120 

Bridgeport  105 

Brooklyn 151-156 

Cheshire 125-130 

Danbury 140 

Derby ' 61-  63 

Easton 144-146 

Greenwich* 107-108 

Guilford 93—  96 

Hartford 141-144 

Hebron 54-  58 

Huntington   105-106 

Litchfield 98-100 

Middletown 108-113 

Milford 149-151 

New  Haven 114-118 

New  London 32-  38 

New  Milford  (Rev.  Joseph  Hooper) 88-  92 

Newtown 39-  40 

Northford  (no  paper) 146 

North  Guilford  103-105 

North  Haven 122-124 

Norwalk 59-  60 

Norwich  101-102 

*  Greenwich,  to  all  intents  and  purposes  a  parish  from  1749,  was  not  regularly  organ- 
ized as  such  until  1833.  It  claimed  a  place,  however,  in  this  Colonial  record.  Several 
other  places,  such  as  New  Canaan,  Monroe  and  others,  could  also  be  thus  included. 


— 4— 

CONTENTS — 

Oxford   146 

Plymouth 65-  67 

Poquetanock  41-  52 

Redding 53-  54 

Ridgefield 63-  65 

Roxbury 68-  70 

Sharon 121-122 

Southport 28-  32 

Stamford 82-  85 

Stratford 22-  26 

Tashua 131-139 

Wallingford 79-  82 

Waterbury 86-  88 

Watertown 147-148 

West  Haven 26-  28 

Weston  96-  98 

Woodbury 71-  75 

ANNIVERSARY  SERMON,  WEST  HAVEN. 

Rev.  Edwin  S.  Lines,  D.D.     Appendix  A.   157-170 

BISHOP  BERKELEY'S  INFLUENCE  IN  CONN. 

Editor.     Appendix  B.  171-172 

CHRONOLOGICAL  LIST    OF    PRE-REVOLUTIONARY    CLERGYMEN. 

.Editor.     Appendix  C.   173-175 

ADDITIONAL  LIST  OF  MEN  ORDAINED  FROM  CONN.   BUT  WHO 

DIED  OR  RETURNED  TO  OTHER  COLONIES.  Editor.  176 

LIST  OF  REVOLUTIONARY  CLERGYMEN.     Editor.     Appendix  D.  177 

SUPPLEMENTARY  LIST  OF   MEN  WHO    HAVE   GONE   INTO    THE 

MINISTRY  FROM  CONNECTICUT.     Editor.     Appendix  E.  178-182 

CHRONOLOGICAL  LIST  OF  COLONIAL  PARISHES. 

Editor.     Appendix  F.  183-184 

PAROCHIAL  GENEALOGY  OF  CONNECTICUT. 

Editor.     Appendix  G.   185-189 


X10t  of  UUuetrations 


PORTRAITS  :  PAGE 

Rt.  Rev.  C.  B.  Brewster,  D.D.,  LL.D Frontispiece 

Rt.  Rev.  John  Williams,  D.D.,  LL.D 108 

Rt.  Rev.  T.  C.  Brownell,  D.D.,  LL.D 117 

Rt.  Rev.  Abraham  Jarvis,  D.D.,  LL.D 112 

Rt.  Rev.  Samuel  Seabury,  D.D.,  LL.D 74 

Bishop  Berkeley  and  His  Household 170 

Rev.  Henry  Caner,  D.D 59 

Rev.  Bela  Hubbard,  D.D 167 

Rev.  Samuel  Johnson,  D.D 24 

Rev.  George  Keith,  D.D 32 

Rev.  Richard  Mansfield,  D.D 61 

CHURCHES  : 

Greenwich,  Horseneck  Chapel  and  General  Putnam's  Escape  107 

New  Haven,  Trinity  Church  114 

Poquetanuck,  St.  James's  Church 41 

Plymouth,  St.  Peter's  Church 65 

Stratford,  Christ  Church 22 

West  Haven,  Christ  Church 26 

HOUSES  : 

New  London,  Bishop  Seabury's  House 36 

Woodbury,  The  Old  Glebe 73 

CUTS: 

Prayer  Book  with  Erasures  (Greenwich)   93 

Prayer  Book  with  S.  P.  G.  Title  Page  (Southport) 28 

S.  P.  G.  Seal  (Southport) 17 


prefatory  Iftote 


The  editing  of  this  book  has  been  a  labor  of  love  on  the  part  of  a 
worthy  descendant  of  the  Second  Bishop  of  Connecticut  For 
myself  this  history  of  beginnings  has  a  peculiar  interest,  because 
my  own  service  in  the  priesthood  was  begun  just  over  the  New 
York  border  in  the  old  parish  of  Rye,  which  sent  forth  the  Rev. 
George  Muirson  and  Colonel  Heathcote  on  their  missionary  journeys 
to  the  shores  and  hillsides  of  Fairfield  County,  and  was  thus  the 
mother  parish  of  us  all. 

But  a  higher  than  any  personal  interest  attaches  to  this  story. 
In  the  early  history  of  our  American  Church  there  is  no  chapter 
more  interesting  and  none,  I  venture  to  assert,  more  important  than 
that  which  relates  to  Connecticut.  In  her  colonial  clergy,  many 
of  whom  had  come  into  the  Church  because  of  conviction  and  at 
no  little  sacrifice,  was  illustrated  a  type  distinctively  characteristic 
of  Connecticut.  Her  churchmanship  was  rooted  the  more  deeply 
and  firmly  by  battle  with  the  winds  of  opposition  and  adversity. 
Hers  is  our  most  venerable  see  and  hers  our  first  Bishop,  whose 
consecration,  moreover,  links  us  with  the  romantic  history  of  the 
Scottish  Church.  Hers  has  been  the  richest  contribution  to  our 
Prayer-Book,  and  hers  an  unfailing  championship  of  primitive  truth 
and  apostolic  order. 

For  a  parish  or  for  a  diocese  it  is  an  excellent  thing  to  have  hon- 
orable traditions.  But  it  is  an  inheritance  that  brings  with  it  respon- 
sibility. As  we  face  the  problems  and  the  tasks  of  a  new  century, 
it  is  well  thus  to  have  reviewed  the  days  of  old.  The  Connecticut 
Churchmen  of  the  Eighteenth  Century  were  worthy  of  commemora- 
tion. May  those  of  the  Twentieth  prove  themselves  worthy  of  their 
heritage ! 

CHAUNCEY  B.  BREWSTER, 

Bishop  of  Connecticut. 


33  HARVARD  ST.,  WORCESTER,  MASS. 

June  n,  1901. 
Dear  Miss  Jarvis: 

Your  letter  came  duly  to  hand  and  at  our  meeting  of  the  Com- 
mission on  Parochial  Archives  the  subject  was  presented  and  the 
following  resolution  passed. 

"Resolved,  That  this  Commission  approves  cordially  the  plan  of 
Miss  Jarvis  for  a  memorial  volume  upon  the  Diocesan  Commemora- 
tion of  the  Bicentennial  of  the  Venerable  Society  for  the  Propaga- 
tion of  the  Gospel." 

The  members  were  all  greatly  pleased  that  these  historical  papers 
were  to  be  so  carefully  preserved  and  am  sure  would  be  glad  to 
assist  you  in  any  way  in  their  power  to  make  the  effort  a  success. 

Sincerely, 

FREDERIC  W.  BAILEY, 

Sec.  C.  P.  A. 


Explanatory  preface 


THE  CONNECTICUT  JUBILEE  FOR  THE  BICENTENARY  OF  THE 

SOCIETY  FOR  THE  PROPAGATION  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

1701-1901 

EARLY  in  the  year  of  1901  the  Bishop  of  Connecticut 
appointed  the  octave  from  the  Wednesday  before 
Whit-Sunday  to  the  Wednesday  after,  to  be  observed  as  a 
solemn  jubilee  in  all  the  Diocese,  for  the  two  hundredth^anni- 
versary  of  the  founding  of  the  Society  for  the  Propagation 
of  the  Gospel,  which  during  the  Colonial  days  was  so 
largely  instrumental  in  planting  the  Church  of  England  ** 
within  its  borders. 

The  celebration  was  opened  by  the  Missionary  Commit- 
tee of  the  Diocese,  Rev.  Storrs  O.  Seymour  chairman. 
A  service  was  held  in  Trinity  Church,  New  Haven,  con- 
ducted by  the  Bishop,  at  which  memorial  addresses  were 
made  by  the  Bishop,  Dr.  Lloyd,  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Bodley  of 
New  Britain. 

On  Thursday  the  Junior  Department  of  the  Woman's 
Auxiliary  of  the  Diocese  held  a  meeting  of  the  Inter- 
Parochial  Missions  Study-Class,  in  Christ  Church,  Bridge- 
port. Holy  Communion  was  celebrated  at  nine  o'clock, 
followed  by  the  reading  of  historical  papers  from  the  forty- 
two  parishes  of  Colonial  origin.  Mrs.  Colt,  President  of 
the  Auxiliary,  presided  and  much  of  interest  was  elicited. 
A  luncheon  was  then  served  in  bounteous  hospitality  to 
three  hundred  guests.  An  exhibition  of  Colonial  and  other 
Church  relics  of  great  value  and  unusual  interest  then  fol- 
lowed. 


— 10 — 

At  two-thirty  the  people  reassembled  in  the  church  for  a 
Thanksgiving  service.  A  jubilee  procession  of  the  Bishop 
and  clergy  of  the  Diocese,  together  with  banner  bearers 
from  each  of  the  Colonial  parishes,  preceded  the  solemn 
offering  of  prayer  and  praise.  Addresses  commemorative 
in  character  were  made  by  the  Bishop,  Dr.  Hart,  and  Dr. 
Lloyd.  Two  descendants  from  two  of  the  prominent 
Colonial  clergy  were  present  in  the  chancel:  the  Rev. 
Samuel  Fermor  Jarvis,  grandson  of  Abraham  Jarvis,  second 
Bishop  of  Connecticut,  and  Rector  of  Brooklyn,  Conn.,  the 
last  parish  organized  prior  to  the  Revolution ;  and  Arch- 
deacon Johnson,  great-grandson  of  Samuel  Johnson,  one  of 
the  pioneers  of  Episcopacy  in  Connecticut. 

On  Friday  the  Daughters  of  the  King  and  the  Girls' 
Friendly  held  a  joint  service  in  Christ  Church,  Hartford, 
while  on  Saturday  the  Sunday  School  Auxiliary  held  its 
service  in  Trinity  Church  of  the  same  place.  Nearly  every 
Sunday  School  of  the  Diocese  was  represented  by  a  delega- 
tion and  a  banner.  A  thousand  children  were  gathered  and 
the  occasion  was  an  inspiring  one. 

The  Brotherhood  of  St.  Andrew  also  observed  the  occa- 
sion in  their  annual  meeting  in  New  Haven  on  Saturday 
and  Sunday. 

On  Sunday  all  the  rectors  were  asked  to  preach  histori- 
cal sermons  and  use  prayers  for  the  extension  of  Christ's 
Kingdom. 

Monday  was  observed  in  New  London  by  the  Diocesan 
Missionary  Society,  while  Tuesday  was  set  apart  for  the 
Church  Club  to  meet  in  New  Haven.  On  Wednesday  the 
Jubilee  closed  by  a  Quiet  Day  of  solemn  assembly  for  the 
Woman's  Auxiliary,  conducted  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Riley  of  the 
General  Theological  Seminary. 

This  volume  preserves  the  historical  papers  written  by 
members  of  the  Colonial  parishes,  and  two  of  the  addresses 
of  the  Junior  meeting,  on  the  Thursday  of  this  week  of 
Thanksgiving. 


— II — 

The  Church  Club  sent  $50  as  a  token  of  remembrance  to 
the  Venerable  Society,  and  the  Junior  meeting  in  Bridge- 
port sent  the  offerings  of  that  day,  together  with  some  sub- 
sequent gifts  (£15.  15.  2),  with  the  following  letter: 

"To  the  Venerable  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel,  all 
greeting  in  the  Lord: 

The  Diocese  of  Connecticut  sends  to  you,  fathers  and  brethren,  at 
the  opening  of  your  fourth  jubilee  year,  its  hearty  congratulations, 
with  a  renewed  acknowledgment  of  its  debt  to  you  for  fostering 
care  during  Colonial  days  and  the  assurance  of  prayers  for  God's 
continued  blessing  on  your  work.  Before  this  can  reach  you,  you 
will  have  heard  that  toward  the  close  of  the  year,  at  the  Whitsuntide, 
we  kept  a  week  of  memorial  services,  in  which  each  of  the  mis- 
sionary organizations  of  the  Diocese  bore  a  part,  that  we  might  not 
only  remind  ourselves  and  tell  our  children  of  our  wonderful  history, 
but  might  also  quicken  our  zeal  and  theirs  for  the  years  that  are  to 
come.  At  one  of  these  services,  held  under  the  special  auspices  of 
our  Woman's  Auxiliary  to  the  Board  of  Missions,  and  for  its  junior 
branch,  at  which  the  several  parishes  organized  in  Connecticut  while 
it  was  a  colony  were  represented  and  the  early  history  of  each  was 
told  in  outline,  an  offering  was  made  for  your  present  work.  We 
have  great  pleasure  in  transmitting  it  to  you,  not  as  feeling  that  you 
stand  in  need  of  a  gift  from  us,  and  certainly  not  as  hoping  to 
express  by  it  our  appreciation  of  what  we  owe  to  you,  but  that  we 
may  testify  to  our  sincere  interest  in  your  labors  and  bear  an 
humble  part  in  the  thank-offering  of  this  jubilee. 

With  the  prayer  that  Almighty  God  will  have  you,  fathers  and 
brethren,  and  your  Venerable  Society  ever  in  His  holy  keeping,  we 
have  the  honour  to  subscribe  ourselves  your  servants  for  Christ's 
sake. 

ST.  PETER'S  DAY,  1901." 

The  letter  was  signed  by  the  Bishop  of  the  Diocese;  by 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Grint,  Rector  of  St.  James's  Church,  New 
London,  the  first  place  in  Connecticut  in  which  the  mis- 
sionaries of  the  Society  preached ;  by  the  Rev.  N.  E.  Corn- 
wall, Rector  of  Christ  Church,  Stratford,  the  first  mission 
of  the  Society  in  Connecticut  and  the  first  parish  organized 


— 12 — 

in  the  colony;  by  Archdeacon  Johnson,  of  Richmond,  New 
York,  a  lineal  descendant  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson, 
leader  of  the  Church  in  Connecticut  in  Colonial  days;  by 
the  Rev.  Samuel  F.  Jarvis,  grandson  of  the  distinguished 
presbyter  of  the  colony  who  afterwards  became  second 
Bishop  of  Connecticut;  and  by  Mrs.  Elizabeth  H.  Colt, 
President  of  the  Diocesan  branch  of  the  Woman's  Auxiliary, 
under  the  auspices  of  which  the  service  at  Bridgeport  was 
held. 

SOCIETY  FOR  THE  PROPAGATION  OF  THE  GOSPEL 
IN  FOREIGN  PARTS. 

19  DELAHAY  STREET,  WESTMINSTER,  S.W. 

4TH  OCTOBER,  1901. 
My  dear  Lord  Bishop: 

The  Registrar  of  the  diocese  of  Connecticut  forwarded  on  S. 
Peter's  Day  a  letter,  signed  by  your  lordship  and  other  representa- 
tives of  the  diocese  of  Connecticut,  reporting  on  the  observance  of 
the  Society's  Bicentenary,  and  forwarding  a  thank  offering  of 
£15.15.2.  For  the  latter  a  formal  receipt  was  at  once  sent.  I  am 
now  directed  to  acknowledge  the  letter,  and  in  doing  so  to  say 
that  the  Standing  Committee  of  the  Society  have  received  it  with 
much  satisfaction.  Thanking  you  for  this  latest  addition  to  your 
acts  of  kind  and  brotherly  love  to  the  Society, 
I  am,  my  dear  Lord  Bishop, 

Yours  very  faithfully, 

E.  P.  KETCHLEY. 
The  Right  Revd- 

The  Bishop  of  Connecticut. 


EMtor'e  Untrofcuction 

[BEING  THE  FIRST  ADDRESS  AT  THE  JUNIOR  MEETING.] 


THE  PLACE  OF  AMERICA  IN  RELIGIOUS  HISTORY. 

THE  "United  States"  is  not  only  the  union  of  many 
states  under  one  government  but  the  welding  of 
many  peoples  into  one  nation.  So  in  religious  history  every 
form  of  Christianity  has  sought  refuge  within  its  borders, 
and  already  the  cry  for  "unity"  is  ascending  as  nowhere  else 
in  the  world.  Let  us  trace  the  stages  in  the  story. 

Before  the  Puritans  landed  on  Plymouth  Rock,  almost 
before  they  were  dreamed  of  in  the  Church  of  England,  the 
religious  contest  for  the  possession  of  America  began.  The 
Pope  drew  a  line  dividing  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  giving  all 
new  discoveries  east  of  it  to  Portugal,  in  recognition  of 
Vasco  da  Gama  and  his  discovery  of  the  "new  way  to  India," 
while  all  west  of  that  line  the  Pontiff  "gave"  to  Spain  as 
reward  for  the  westward  voyage,  from  that  coast,  of 
Christopher  Columbus.  Thus  the  whole  New  World  was  laid 
out  as  papal  territory.  England  heard.  She  drew  no  line. 
She  acted.  "No  peace  with  Spain  beyond  the  line"  drawn 
by  the  Pope  became  the  national  motto  of  the  day.  No 
sooner  had  Christopher  Columbus  landed  on  the  West  Indies 
than  John  Cabot  sailed  out  from  England,  bearing  a  charter 
which  claimed  not  only  all  lands  he  should  touch  upon  in 
the  New  World  as  territory  of  England,  but  also  claiming 
all  souls  living  in  those  territories  for  conversion  to  the 
Church  of  England ;  and  services  were  celebrated  on  the  east 
coast  according  to  the  rights  of  the  Church  of  England 
before  Americus  Vespucius  landed  on  the  continent,  and 


—14— 

named  it.  Drake  landed  in  San  Francisco  bay  and  cele- 
brated the  first  Holy  Communion  on  that  western  coast. 
The  Virginia  settlers  in  1607,  coming  to  Jamestown,  held 
service  and  began  to  convert  the  Indians  to  Christianity 
before  the  Pilgrims  landed  on  Plymouth  Rock. 

This  followed  in  1620;  and  after  the  Puritans,  an  army 
of  religious  refugees  sought  and  found  an  asylum  free  from 
persecution  on  these  shores.  Meanwhile  the  Church  of 
Rome,  by  the  Jesuits  in  the  Northwest,  the  Franciscans  and 
Dominicans  in  the  South,  and  the  English  Romanists  in 
Maryland,  maintained  a  claim  to  a  share  in  the  religious 
life  of  the  country.  By  a  series  of  events  reaching  over 
many  years  (the  cession  of  Florida,  the  Louisiana  purchase, 
the  acquisition  of  the  Northwest,  California,  Texas,  and 
New  Mexico)  this  share  of  the  Church  of  Rome  has  been 
limited  to  spiritual  not  temporal  power.  She  has  been  wel- 
comed as  one  of  many  religious  bodies,  but  not  placed  over 
any.  The  "Monroe  Doctrine"  holds  good  in  the  religious 
world.  The  recent  planting  of  our  rule  in  Cuba  and  the 
Philippines,  together  with  the  consequent  proclamation  of 
religious  liberty  in  each  of  these  sections,  form  separate  links 
in  the  same  great  chain.  Our  land  has  been  made  the 
home  of  religious  liberty.  Hence  it  is  that  religious  pioneers 
are  prominent  among  the  settlers  of  each  portion  of  its  terri- 
tory. All  along  the  eastern  coast,  and  on  the  plains  of  the 
Missouri,  bands  of  Puritans  and  Quakers,  Huguenots  and 
Moravians  have  sought  in  the  great  openness  of  the  New 
World  liberty  to  worship  after  their  own  manner  the  one 
God  of  their  fathers,  while  across  the  Rocky  Mountains  it 
is  the  Methodist  missionary  Whitman  and  his  wife  who 
crest  the  wave  of  emigration  that  claimed  the  northwest 
coast  from  the  savage  and  the  trader. 

With  this  great  freedom  for  our  cornerstone,  a  reverence 
for  God  and  respect  for  man  made  in  His  image,  the  motto 
that  crowned  the  triumphal  arch  at  the  World's  Fair  in 


—15— 

Chicago  ("Ye  shall  know  the  truth,  and  the  truth  shall  make 
you  free"),  is  an  inspiring  prophecy  of  possibility  for  our 
country.  To  us  come  all  peoples  and  all  tongues.  They 
come  together  in  voluntary  peacefulness  for  the  first  time 
since  the  scattering  of  nations  at  the  tower  of  Babel.  They 
come  for  freedom  and  they  grow  towards  unity.  Begin- 
ning with  individual  freedom  in  one  country,  under  one  flag, 
one  ruler,  one  law,  they  grow  to  speak  one  language  and 
more  and  more  to  realize  that  we  are  all  worshipping  one 
God.  One  baptism  into  one  holy  name  is  beginning  to  mean 
more  to  us  than  east  or  west,  Roman  or  Protestant. 

It  is  then,  most  fitting  that  we,  members  of  the  Anglican 
communion,  who  took  the  initiative  in  claiming  this  land 
for  freedom,  should  look  to  our  beginnings  and  our  brave 
struggle  in  one  spot  in  New  England  where  the  Puritan 
tried  to  become  a  Pope. 

Life  to-day  in  Connecticut  is  better  understood  when  we 
realize  its  growth  out  of  the  conflicts  of  the  past.  The 
story  of  the  introduction  of  the  worship  of  the  Church  of 
England  by  the  missionaries  of  the  Society  for  the  Propaga- 
tion of  the  Gospel  is  indeed  an  astonishing  one.  From  the 
time  that,  in  the  southwest,  Col.  Heathcote  fully  armed 
escorted  the  clergyman  at  Rye  into  Stratford  to  celebrate  a 
Prayer  Book  service,  to  the  day  when,  in  the  northeast 
corner  of  the  State,  in  the  town  of  Pomfret,  old  Godfrey 
Malbone  built  a  church  upon  his  farm  land  to  escape  com- 
pulsory taxation  for  the  salary  of  the  Congregational  min- 
ister, the  story  is  one  of  opposition  on  the  one  hand  and 
bravery  on  the  other.  This  will  be  no  less  surprising  to  the 
broad-minded  Puritans  of  our  day  than  to  ourselves,  for 
those  times  are  forgotten  in  the  days  that  are.  Yet  happily 
we  shall  rise  from  a  study,, of  these  pages  with  a  greater 
enthusiasm  for  the  heritage  won  for  us,  not  by  favour,  but 
by  struggle  and  in  the  fear  of  God — a  heritage  not  only  of 
the  Prayer  Book  and  of  the  Episcopate,  but  of  the  principle 


of  religious  freedom,  and,  as  we  believe,  in  the  end,  of  the 
realization  of  Christian  unity.  Had  any  one  religion,  or 
any  one  race  obtained  sole  authority  in  our  land,  it  could 
never  have  become  what  it  is  becoming  now,  the  harmonizer 
of  the  human  family.  State  union  was  bought  by  the  Revo- 
lution; race  equality  before  the  law,  by  the  awful  throes 
of  the  Rebellion;  and  doubtless  Christian  harmony,  in  the 
same  broad  sense  of  unity  in  fundamentals  without  com- 
pelled uniformity  of  externals,  will  not  come  without  "great 
searchings  of  heart."  But  that  it  will  come  we  can  see  in 
promise  by,  not  only  our  integral  diversity,  but  by  our 
national  character  of  "arbiter"  and  "peacemaker,"  which 
we  have  established  as  our  portion  among  the  nations  of 
the  world.  More  and  more  will  the  Christian  bodies  of 
America  come  to  realize  that  they  "Members,  by  Baptism 
of  the  One  Body  of  Christ,"  are,  not  one  day  may  be,  one 
Church.  Let  us  then  turn  to  the  story  of  the  rescue  of 
Connecticut  in  Colonial  days  from  the  cramping  hand  of  an 
"establishment"  through  the  work  of  the  Society  for  the 
Propagation  of  the  Gospel. 


a  blacksmith,  and  he  thought  because  he  used  leather  mit- 
tens in  his  work  in  the  blacksmith-shop,  that  the  proper 
thing  to  do  was  to  put  on  his  leather  mittens  for  the  service ; 
it  was  called  the  "leather-mitten  ordination."  One  result 
of  this  was,  that  sober-minded  men  and  women  began  to 
think  that  perhaps,  after  all,  the  Church  of  England  was 
in  the  right,  that  it  might  be  best  to  follow  the  example 
which  had  been  prevailing  in  the  Church  for  many  hun- 
dreds of  years,  that  no  one  should  be  considered  to  have 
the  right  to  preach  the  word  of  God  or  minister  the  sacra- 
ments unless  he  had  been  ordained  by  a  bishop. 

There  were  other  things  that  set  people  to  thinking,  and 
called  up  recollections  of  what  they  had  learned  in  old  Eng- 
land. Three  or  four  copies,  perhaps  more,  of  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer  (which  Bishop  Williams  once  said  was  the 
first  and  best  missionary  of  the  Church)  had  been  brought 
to  Connecticut.  One  belonged  to  Samuel  Smithson  of 
Guilford.  It  fell  into  the  hands  of  a  young  man  who  was 
then  preparing  for  college,  or  perhaps  had  entered  college, 
Samuel  Johnson.  He  read  it,  studied  it,  learned  from  it 
some  things  that  he  had  not  known  before,  and  thought 
seriously  of  what  he  had  learned.  He  came  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  the  teachings  of  the  Prayer  Book  were  the  teachings 
of  the  word  of  God ;  and  when  he  became  a  Congregational 
minister,  he  used  the  prayers  which  he  had  learned  and 
the  people  thought  that  he  was  peculiarly  "gifted  in 
prayer"  and  wondered  how  he  could  express  himself  so 
well.  He  became,  under  God's  providence,  the  founder 
of  the  Church  here  in  Connecticut.  There  was  another 
Prayer  Book  in  Plymouth ;  and  this  led  to  the  establishment 
of  two  or  three  parishes  in  Connecticut,  one  or  two  in 
western  New  York,  and  one  or  two  in  Ohio. 

But  let  us  go  back  to  the  time  of  the  foundation  of  this 
Society — "the  Venerable  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the 
Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts."  We  may  well  call  it  venerable 


—19— 

now  because  it  is  two  hundred  years  old,  but  it  was  often 
called  venerable  when  it  was  very  young  indeed.  Its 
foundation  was  due  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Bray,  who  had  come 
to  this  country  that  he  might  inquire  into  the  state  of  relig- 
ion here.  In  the  very  next  year  after  it  was  founded,  a  few 
Churchmen  who  were  in  Connecticut,  at  Stratford,  asked 
the  Society  to  send  them  a  clergyman  of  the  Church  of 
England.  In  the  self-same  year,  the  first  two  mission- 
aries came,  Mr.  Keith  and  Mr.  Talbot,  and  they  spent  a 
Sunday  in  New  London.  The  minister  of  the  Congrega- 
tional society  there,  who  was  afterwards  Governor  of  this 
Colony,  Mr.  Saltonstall,  received  them  very  courteously; 
and  one  of  them  preached  from  his  pulpit  in  the  morning 
and  the  other  in  the  afternoon.  I  do  not  suppose  that  they 
read  the  service  out  of  the  Prayer  Book;  but  this  was  cer- 
tainly the  first  time  that  clergymen  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land officiated  as  such  in  this  colony.  Four  years  after- 
wards came  the  time  when  the  missionary  from  Rye,  Mr. 
Muirson,  under  protection  and  patronage  of  Col.  Heathcote, 
preached  and  baptized  in  the  towns  from  Greenwich  to 
Stratford.  The  result  was  the  establishment  of  the  first 
parish  of  Connecticut  in  Stratford  in  1722,  and  Mr.  Pigot 
was  settled  there  as  its  first  clergyman. 

Now,  you  should  remember  the  year  1701  in  which  this 
Society  was  founded,  but  you  should  remember  also  the 
year  1722,  not  alone  because  it  was  the  year  in  which  there 
was  the  first  settled  clergyman  here  in  Connecticut,  but 
because  the  most  remarkable  thing  in  our  Church  history 
happened  in  that  year.  Seven  young  men,  Congregational 
ministers  of  good  learning,  men  of  influence  and  of  repu- 
tation, were  in  the  habit  of  meeting  in  New  Haven,  to  read 
the  books  in  the  college  library  and  to  talk  over  what  they 
read.  As  they  read  and  studied,  and  as  Mr.  Johnson,  who 
was  one  of  them,  remembered  what  he  had  learned  from  the 
Prayer .  Book,  they  came  to  consider  seriously  whether  it 


— 20 — 

was  right  for  them  to  undertake  to  minister  to  their  con- 
gregations any  longer,  unless  they  could  first  be  ordained 
by  a  bishop;  and  they  united  in  sending  a  document  to  the 
"fathers  and  brethren"  who  were  assembled  at  Yale  College 
commencement  in  the  year  1722.  It  led  to  much  excite- 
ment and  discussion ;  and  the  result  was  that  of  these  seven 
young  men,  four  made  up  their  minds  that  they  must  cross 
the  ocean  and  ask  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  to  ordain 
them.  I  do  not  suppose  that  a  thing  like  that  ever  hap- 
pened before  or  since.  Here  were  some  of  the  picked  men 
in  the  community,  honored  for  their  learning  and  their 
character,  going  across  the  ocean  three  thousand  miles  in 
a  sailing  vessel,  because  they  were  satisfied  that  they  could 
not  any  longer  minister  to  their  people  without  receiving 
ordination  from  a  bishop.  Three  went  in  the  first  year,  Dr. 
Cutler,  Mr.  Brown,  and  Mr.  Johnson;  and  Mr.  Wetmore 
followed  a  year  later.  Yale  College  at  this  time  had  a 
faculty  of  two,  the  Rector  and  the  Tutor,  or  the  President 
and  the  Professor;  these  were  Dr.  Cutler  and  Mr.  Brown. 
Dr.  Cutler  came  back  to  be  Rector  of  Christ  Church  in  Bos- 
ton, Mr.  Johnson  to  be,  as  I  said,  the  real  founder  of  the 
Church  here  in  Connecticut.  Mr.  Wetmore  also  ministered 
here;  but  Mr.  Brown  died  of  the  small-pox  in  England. 

Then  for  about  fifty  years,  other  young  men  followed  the 
example  of  these  four.  Forty-three  candidates  crossed  the 
ocean  before  the  Revolution ;  and  of  these  six  lost  their  lives 
in  the  venture.  It  was  not  an  easy  thing  in  those  days  to 
cross  the  ocean  and  to  return;  and  besides,  England  was 
continually  at  war  with  France,  and  the  small-pox  was  a 
terrible  scourge.  From  Hebron  they  sent  out  four  men, 
one  after  another.  One  pined  away  in  a  French  prison, 
one  died  of  the  small-pox,  and  one  was  lost  at  sea;  only 
the  fourth  was  able  to  come  back  to  minister  to  the  parish 
which  had  sent  him.  It  was  in  this  way  that  the  Church 
was  founded  in  this  colony.  The  War  of  the  Revolution 


— 21 — 

broke  out,  as  you  remember,  in  1775;  and  the  independence 
of  the  colonies  put  an  end  to  the  work  here  of  the  Society 
'for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel.  But  no  sooner  was  the 
Revolution  over  than  Dr.  Seabury  crossed  the  ocean  and 
was  consecrated  the  first  Bishop  of  the  Church  in  Con- 
necticut— the  first  Bishop  of  the  Church  in  this  land. 

I  want  to  say  but  two  things  more ;  and  one  is  this :  that 
this  history  shows  what  it  is  that  has  made  the  Churchmen 
of  Connecticut,  both  those  of  older  and  those  of  later  years, 
so  strong  in  their  attachment  to  the  Church  into  which 
they  have  been  baptized  and  to  which  they  have  professed 
their  allegiance,  and  has  kept  them  firm  in  their  belief  in 
the  faith  and  order  and  sacraments  and  scriptures  which 
have  been  handed  down  to  us  from  the  Church  of  ancient 
times. 

And  lastly,  as  to  the  word  "Propagation."  I  have  been 
speaking  of  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel. 
We  understand,  of  course,  that  this  means  the  spreading  of 
the  gospel,  but  I  wonder  if  you  have  ever  heard  of  the 
original  meaning  of  the  word  propagation  as  applied  to  a 
vine.  If  you  bend  down  a  branch  and  bury  a  little  bit  of  it 
in  the  ground,  so  that  it  may  take  root  and  become  a  new 
vine,  this  is  propagation.  It  was  very  much  in  that  way 
way  that  the  gospel  was  first  extended  and  is  now  extended. 
A  branch  was  bent  down  and  took  root  here  in  our  Con- 
necticut soil,  and  by  and  by  it  did  not  need  the  nursing  care 
of  the  mother  Church,  but  became  itself  the  mother  of 
Churches.  It  depends  upon  these  boys,  those  who  have  car- 
ried the  banners  of  their  parishes,  and  others  like  them, 
whether  there  shall  be  the  same  strong,  true  vine  of  the 
Church  of  God  growing  here  in  Connecticut  as  long  as  they 
live  and  for  the  generations  hereafter,  with  all  the  strength 
and  power  with  which  God  has  blessed  it  here  in  the 
past,  since  that  venerable  Society  began  its  fostering  care 
at  the  beginnings  of  the  Church  here  in  Connecticut. 


Parochial  Ristorics  of  Colonial  Connecticut 


Christ  Church,  Stratford 

1690  (1707). 

ABOUT  the  year  1690,  there  were  in  the  town  of 
Stratford  "a.  considerable  number  of  professors  of 
the  faith  of  the  Church  of  England  and  desirous  to  worship 
God  in  the  Liturgy  of  their  forefathers."  But  there  was 
no  clergyman  in  the  State,  so  no  one  was  found  to  minister 
to  their  spiritual  needs.  In  1702  an  application  was  made 
to  the  Bishop  of  London  for  a  missionary,  but  without  suc- 
cess. Not  meeting  with  any  response,  in  September,  1705, 
a  request  was  sent  to  the  Rev.  William  Vesey  of  Trinity 
Church,  New  York,  that  he  would  visit  them  "to  preach 
and  administer  the  rite  of  baptism."  The  distance  was  so 
great  that  he  did  not  personally  comply,  but  the  request 
bore  fruit;  for  one  year  later,  on  the  second  of  September, 
1706,  there  came  riding  into  the  town  two  men,  whose 
coming  aroused  the  greatest  hostility  among  the  Congre- 
gational element.  The  one  was  the  Rev.  George  Muirson 
of  Rye,  N.  Y.,  a  man,  we  read,  having  a  very  happy  way 
of  preaching,  and  considering  his  years  (but  31),  wonder- 
fully good  in  argument,  and  his  conversation  without 
blemish,  held  by  the  people  in  great  esteem  for  his  piety 
and  virtue.  The  other,  the  Hon.  Colonel  taleb  Heathcote, 
a  leading  man  in  the  Province  of  New  York,  a  member  of 
the  first  vestry  of  Old  Trinity,  ever  active  in  promoting 
the  interests  of  the  Church  at  large. 

Though  threatened  with   prison   and   hard   usage,   Mr. 
Muirson  preached  to  a  considerable  assembly,  and  baptized 


CHRIST   CHURCH,   STRATFORD. 
Second  Building,  1744. 


—23— 

about  35  persons,  principally  adults.  This  visit  was  fol- 
lowed by  two  or  three  others  in  the  space  of  a  few  months. 
We  read  with  amazement  of  the  open  hostility  of  those 
who,  while  advocates  of  religious  freedom,  were  unwilling 
to  extend  it  to  those  who  walked  not  with  them;  of  how, 
on  the  second  of  Mr.  Muirson's  visits,  a  member  of  the 
council,  on  the  Lord's  day,  "stood  in  the  highway  and 
empowered  several  others,  to  forbid  any  person  to  go  to 
the  assembly  of  the  Church  of  England  and  threatened 
them  with  a  fine  of  five  pounds."  The  parishioners  sub- 
sequently complained  that  their  members  had  been  seized 
and  imprisoned  in  the  county  jail  for  refusing  to  pay  the 
sum  demanded  for  the  support  of  the  Congregational  minis- 
ter. About  the  first  of  April,  1707,  the  parish  was  organized 
by  the  election  of  wardens  and  vestry,  and  in  1708  the 
S.  P.  G.  granted  their  request  that  the  Rev.  Mr.  Muirson 
be  appointed  their  missionary,  but  before  the  intelligence 
reached  this  country  the  loved  priest  of  God  had  rested 
from  his  labors.  In  1712,  the  Rev.  Francis  Phillips  was 
sent  out  by  the  Society  to  take  charge  of  the  parish,  but 
remained  only  a  few  months,  "being,"  wrote  Colonel 
Heathcote,  "of  a  temper  very  contrary  to  be  pleased  with 
such  conversation  and  way  of  living  as  Stratford  affords." 
In  1718,  the  vestry  again  wrote  the  Society,  bewailing  their 
sad  condition  without  a  shepherd,  concluding  with  these 
words:  "As  to  our  outward  estate,  it  may  very  well  be 
said  we  are  inconsiderable,  but  as  to  our  number,  we  have 
had  at  least  one  hundred  baptized  into  the  Church,  and 
have  had  thirty-six  at  one  time  partakers  of  the  holy 
communion  of  the  Lord's  supper,  and  have  several  times 
assembled  in  our  congregation  between  two  and  three 
hundred  persons."  After  four  years  more  of  waiting,  the 
long  desired  minister  of  God  came  among  them  in  the 
person  of  the  Rev.  George  Pigot,  and  a  brighter  period 
dawned  for  the  struggling  parish.  The  good  seed  sown 


-7X  — 

~"t 

by  Muirson  and  the  preaching  of  Pigot  awakened  a  spirit 
of  inquiry  among  the  Congregational  minsters  of  the 
State,  two  of  whom — the  Rev.  Timothy  Cutler,  Rector  of 
Yale  College,  who  for  ten  years  previously  had  been  the 
minister  at  Stratford,  and  the  Rev.  Samuel  Johnson,  then  a 
minister  at  West  Haven — gave  up  their  positions  (in  1722) 
and  went  to  England  for  Holy  Orders. 

Great  was  the  consternation.  "I  suppose,"  wrote  Presi- 
dent Woolsey,  150  years  later,  "that  greater  alarm  would 
scarcely  be  awakened  now,  if  the  Theological  Faculty  of 
Yale  were  to  declare  for  the  Church  of  Rome,  avow  their 
belief  in  transubstantiation  and  pray  to  the  Virgin  Mary." 
In  1723,  the  Churchmen  petitioned  the  town  for  leave  to 
erect  a  church,  which  petition  the  town  "found  clothed  with 
great  difficulty." 

Timbers,  however,  were  prepared  for  raising  on  Meeting 
House  Hill,  and  one  dark  night  they  were  drawn  to  the  foot 
of  the  hill — the  site  of  the  church  burying  ground — and 
there  the  church  was  erected  with  its  "Sabba-day  House" 
near  by  for  the  midday  rest,  refreshment,  and  interchange  of 
ideas,  spiritual  and  temporal.  Meantime,  Rev.  Mr.  Johnson 
had  been  stationed  at  Stratford,  and  under  him  the  first 
church  building  in  Connecticut  was  completed  and  opened 
for  service  on  Christmas  day,  1723.  In  1724,  wardens  and 
vestry  were  chosen  for  Stratford,  Fairfield,  Newtown,  and 
Ripton  (now  Huntington) — two  wardens  for  the  home 
parish  and  one  for  each  of  the  other  towns.  Notwithstand- 
ing the  organization  of  Fairfield  as  a  distinct  parish,  "so 
mightily  grew  the  Church  of  God  and  prevailed"  that  a 
larger  edifice  was  necessary,  and  in  1743  measures  were 
taken  to  erect  a  more  commodious  building  and  a  sum 
representing  about  $10,000  was  subscribed  for  that  pur- 
pose. The  church  was  opened  July  8,  1744.  The  weather- 
cock was  placed  in  position  at  this  time  and  our  famous 
"rooster,"  bearing  scars  inflicted  by  British  soldiery,  has 


REV.    SAMUEL   JOHJJSQN,    D.D. 
Ordained  1722. 


—2  C 

faced  the  tempest  to  this  day.  About  this  time  a  clock 
was  placed  in  the  tower.  The  bell  was  the  gift  of  the  Rector, 
Dr.  Johnson,  was  cast  in  Fairfield  and  cost  300  pounds. 
For  five  generations  it  has  summoned  the  people  to  wor- 
ship, added  its  jubilant  tones  to  those  of  the  general  rejoic- 
ing over  the  news  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  rung 
its  benediction  over  those  "whom  God  had  joined  together," 
and  tolled  a  requiem  for  those  "departed  hence  in  the 
Lord,"  and  to-day  is  a  priceless  possession  of  the  old  parish. 

In  1754,  Dr.  Johnson,  having  been  chosen  the  first 
President  of  King's  (now  Columbia)  College,  N.  Y., 
resigned  the  parish  and  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  Edward 
Winslow.  The  only  clergyman  for  some  years  in  the 
State,  finding  but  one  parish  organized  and  no  church 
building  completed,  Dr.  Johnson  left  ten  or  eleven  clergy 
and  twenty-five  small  churches;  justly  has  he  been  termed 
•"the  Father  of  Episcopacy  in  Connecticut." 

An  agreement  was  made  in  1756  with  Mr.  Gilbert  Delbois 
of  Boston,  Mass.,  for  the  purchase  of  an  organ,  costing 
sixty  pounds  and  "payable  in  six  annual  payments  without 
demand  of  interest."  The  organ  was  the  first  instrument 
of  its  kind  in  a  place  of  public  worship  in  Connecticut. 
So  good  was  its  construction,  that  it  was  used  till  1879,  a 
period  of  almost  125  years.  In  1766,  Dr.  Johnson,  who 
had  resigned  the  presidency  of  King's  College  and  was 
living  at  his  home  at  Stratford,  again  took  charge;  four 
years  later  Mr.  Kneeland,  a  son-in-law,  was  chosen  assistant 
to  the  venerable  Rector  and  succeeded  him  when  Dr. 
Johnson  passed  to  his  rest  in  1772,  just  as  the  clouds  of  the 
Revolution  were  gathering  ominously.  When  the  storm 
broke,  came  troublous  times  for  the  ministers  of  the  Church, 
who  were  bound  by  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  loyalty  to  the 
king.  Having  prayed  so  long  for  our  "excellent  King 
George,"  they  found  it  difficult  to  leave  off  the  familiar 
supplication.  In  Stratford  Church,  the  old  prayers  were 


—26— 

cut  short  by  an  arbitrary  patriot  who  had  no  notion  of 
uttering  "Amen"  to  such  heresies.  On  the  Sunday  after 
the  battle  of  Lexington,  when  the  prayer  was  read  for  the 
royal  family,  Mr.  Benjamin  rose  in  his  pew  and  declared 
no  such  prayer  must  be  uttered  in  Stratford — that  the  name 
of  George  III.  was  the  name  of  the  worst  enemy  of  every 
one  in  the  colony.  Mr.  Kneeland  closed  his  Prayer  Book, 
rose  from  his  knees,  pronounced  the  benediction,  and  the 
church  was  closed  till  the  end  of  the  war,  the  Rector  dying 
in  1777.  After  the  consecration  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel 
Seabury,  his  first  Episcopal  visitation,  and  hence  the  first 
administration  of  the  rite  of  confirmation  in  America,  was 
in  the  historic  church  at  Stratford. 


Christ  Church,  West  Haven 

1723- 

THE  venerable  and  historic  Christ  Church  at  West 
Haven  may  well  claim  an  honored  place  among 
the  Colonial  churches  in  this  country.  In  1723,  ten  or 
fifteen  families  conformed  to  the  Church  of  England  and 
organized  the  parish.  The  Rev.  Samuel  Johnson,  the  first 
Congregational  pastor,  located  in  West  Haven,  became 
convinced  of  the  invalidity  of  his  ordination  and,  not  with- 
out great  self-sacrifice,  sailed  for  England  in  1722  to  receive 
Holy  Orders  in  the  Mother  Church.  He  returned  in  1723 
and  commenced  his  labors  in  this  little  mission  at  West 
Haven.  Being  the  only  Church  clergyman  in  the  colony, 
he  could  only  hold  occasional  services  here.  Still  the 
Churchmen  were  staunch  and  true,  and  waited  patiently 
for  his  successor,  the  Rev.  Jonathan  Arnold,  another  pastor 
of  the  Congregational  flock  near  by,  to  conform  to  Epis- 


CHRIST  CHURCH,   WEST    HAVEN. 
Oldest  church  building  in  Conn.    Built  1741. 


—27— 

copacy.  The  Congregationalists  had,  by  this  time,  become 
thoroughly  alarmed,  and  stipulated,  that  if  he,  like  his 
predecessor  Samuel  Johnson,  should  embrace  the  Episcopal 
faith,  the  money  paid  him  as  a  settlement  should  be 
refunded.  Still  undaunted  in  his  decision,  in  1734  he  was 
dismissed  from  his  pastoral  charge  among  the  Congre- 
gationalists, and  in  1735  went  to  England  for  Holy  Orders. 
He  returned  in  1736  with  the  appointment  as  "itinerant 
missionary  for  Connecticut"  of  the  Society  for  the  Propaga- 
tion of  the  Gospel  and  resided  in  West  Haven.  He  also 
labored  faithfully  to  sustain  the  missions  in  the  neighboring 
towns  of  Milford,  Waterbury,  and  Derby.  It  was  thus  that 
this  little  mission  at  West  Haven  became  the  mother 
Church  of  New  Haven  Colony.  In  1740  Mr.  Arnold  left 
West  Haven  for  Staten  Island.  His  successor  was  the 
Rev.  Theophilus  Morris,  an  Englishman  by  birth.  The 
Churchmen  welcomed  him  with  much  pleasure,  fearing  they 
would  be  without  a  missionary.  He  speaks  of  the  Church 
people  as  being  intelligent,  and  well  read  as  to  the  princi- 
ples of  Church  government.  Like  his  predecessor,  Mr. 
Arnold,  Mr.  Morris  ministered  to  the  people  in  surrounding 
towns  and  laid  the  foundations  of  the  churches  at  North 
Haven,  Wallingford,  and  Simsbury.  He  remained  in  West 
Haven  but  two  years,  but  during  that  time  the  present 
church  edifice  was  built  and  almost  completed. 

Can  we  fully  appreciate  the  faithful  labors  and  self-sacri- 
fice of  that  little  band  of  Churchmen  "who  builded  better 
than  they  knew."  After  Mr.  Morris's  departure,  the  Rev. 
James  Lyons  had  charge  of  the  parish  for  a  time — then  the 
ministries  of  Dr.  Mansfield,  Rev.  Messrs.  Pttnderson  and 
Palmer  bring  the  history  down  to  1767.  Dr.  Mansfield 
resided  at  Derby  and  gave  West  Haven  parish  one  third  of 
his  time.  Rev.  Mr.  Punderson  and  Mr.  Palmer  resided 
in  New  Haven  and  sustained  the  importance  of  the  parish 
at  West  Haven.  In  1767  the  Rev.  Bela  Hubbard  came  to 


—28— 

New  Haven  and  assumed  the  charge  at  West  Haven  as  well 
as  the  mission  at  New  Haven.  In  1771-2  Mr.  Hubbard 
writes  that  "he  was  able  to  perform  his  Sunday  duty  to  a 
decent  and  sober  congregation,  which  people,  even  in  the 
opinion  of  dissenters,  were  a  regular  and  good  sort  of  people ; 
steady  and  exemplary  in  their  attendance  upon  public  wor- 
ship— that  he  was  pleased  and  happy  at  the  situation  and 
his  congregation  in  five  years  increased  one-third — and  num- 
bered 220  souls."  But  the  dawn  of  the  American  Revolu- 
tion is  at  hand  and  we  must  leave  the  further  history  of  these 
children  of  the  Mother  Church  of  England  to  a  future  time. 
Suffice  it  here  to  add  that  they  remained  in  her  faith, 
unchanged  and  unchangeable,  through  all  political  change, 
and  kept  faithfully  to  her  sublime  and  beautiful  ritual  that 
answers  all  the  spirit's  needs ;  that  ritual  "that  age  cannot 
wither  or  custom  stale,"  dear  from  the  associations  of  child- 
hood, and  divine  from  the  experiences  of  life. 


Trinity  Church,  Southport 

1725- 

IN  the  commonwealth  of  Connecticut,  as  late  as  1818, 
those  who  worshipped  after  the  same  manner  as  those 
of  the  Church  of  England  were  subject  to  fines  and  imprison- 
ment. 

The  town  of  Fairfield  in  those  days  covered  a  much 
larger  area  than  it  does  at  present,  and  until  1727  there 
was  no  settled  Rector  of  our  communion  within  its  confines. 

Occasional  services  were  held  in  private  houses  by  mis- 
sionaries sent  over  at  different  times  by  the  Venerable 
Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts. 

Of  those  who  came  to  Fairfield  were  the  Rev.  Messrs. 
Muirson,  Talbot,  Sharpe,  and  Bridge.  Among  those  who 


PAGE  FROM  PRAYER  BOOK,  TRINITY  CHURCH,  SOUTHPORT, 
SHOWING  INSCRIPTION  OF  THE  S.   P.   G. 


—29— 

were  baptized  during  Mr.  Sharpe's  visit,  in  the  year  1712, 
which  lasted  nearly  a  month,  was  an  aged  man  said  to  have 
been  the  first  white  person  born  in  the  colony. 

About  the  year  1722  the  Rev.  George  Pigot  who  had 
become  Rector  of  the  parish  at  Stratford  began  to  hold 
regular  services  at  Fairfield.  After  Mr.  Pigot  resigned 
the  charge  of  the  Stratford  parish,  services  were  still  car- 
ried on  in  Fairfield  by  a  devout  layman,  Dr.  Laborie,  a 
Frenchman,  who,  previous  to  his  arrival  in  this  country,  had 
conformed  to  the  Church  of  England. 

The  Rev.  Samuel  Johnson,  of  famous  memory,  who  had 
left  the  Congregational  Church,  and  had  crossed  the  ocean 
to  enter  Holy  Orders,  followed  Mr.  Pigot  at  Stratford. 

Shortly  after  his  return  Mr.  Johnson  described  himself 
"as  being  alone,  and  surrounded  by  enemies." 

His  house  in  Stratford  had  been  branded,  and  for  some- 
time he  was  obliged  to  send  to  Long  Island  for  the  actual 
necessities  of  life. 

While  Rector  at  Stratford,  Dr.  Johnson  did  not  fail  in 
his  ministrations  at  Fairfield. 

As  a  result  the  first  Church  edifice  was  built  on  Mill 
Plain,  which  was  the  second  Church  of  our  communion  in 
the  colony. 

This  building,  the  first  home  of  Trinity  parish,  was  set 
apart  for  divine  worship  November  10,  1725,  Thanksgiving 
Day,  and  was  followed  in  a  few  years  by  a  much  larger 
edifice,  which  had  become  necessary  for  the  increasing  con- 
gregation. 

One  of  the  features  of  this  later  edifice  was  a  goodly- 
sized  bell,  which  was  a  decided  novelty,  for  up  to  that 
time  all  religious  and  other  meetings  were  called  together 
by  means  of  a  drum. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Caner  followed  Rev.  Dr.  Johnson  as  the 
first  Rector.  He  settled  in  Fairfield  in  1727,  and  according 
to  Dr.  Trumbull,  a  noted  historian  of  that  period,  he  was 


—30— 

the  son  of  the  Mr.  Caner  who  built  the  first  college  and 
Rector's  house  in  New  Haven. 

By  this  time  the  parish  had  extended  until  it  was  fifteen 
miles  in  length  and  six  miles  in  width. 

In  1747  the  Rev.  Joseph  Lamson  succeeded  Rev.  Mr. 
Caner  as  Rector  of  the  parish,  and  it  is  due  to  his  missionary 
spirit  that  services  at  Stratfield  were  begun  which  have 
resulted  in  the  establishment  of  St.  John's  Church  in  what 
is  now  styled  Bridgeport. 

The  towns  visited  by  the  Rectors  of  Trinity  Church  in 
those  early  years  were  Stamford,  Norwalk,  Greenwich,  Red- 
ding, Ridgefield,  Easton,  Wilton,  New  Canaan,  and  Strat- 
field (now  Bridgeport). 

About  twelve  years  before  the  Revolutionary  War  a  large 
number  of  these  towns  had  their  own  churches  and  rectors 
which  greatly  reduced  the  missionary  labors  of  the  parent 
parish. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  it  was  proposed  that  those  of  the 
Church  of  England  in  Fairfield  should  devote  a  part  of 
their  money  by  will  to  the  perpetual  endowment  of  Trinity 
Church.  Already  several  small  sums  had  been  left  by 
devoted  communicants  who  had  departed,  which  were  fol- 
lowed later  by  several  bequests  of  much  larger  size. 

Rev.  John  Sayre  became  Rector  upon  the  death  of  Mr. 
Lamson  in  1773. 

Shortly  after  his  appointment  to  the  parish  by  the  Ven- 
erable Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  the  first 
service  of  induction  ever  held  therein  took  place. 

According  to  the  custom  of  the  time  the  Church  door 
was  closed  and  locked  with  the  key  outside. 

One  of  the  prominent  parishioners,  very  likely  the  senior 
warden  at  that  time,  after  declaring  Mr.  Sayre  to  be  the 
Rector  duly  commissioned  and  appointed,  opened  the  door 
for  the  new  incumbent,  after  which  the  Rector  rang  the 
church  bell,  and  the  regular  service  followed.  The  Rev.  Mr. 


Sayre  then  declared  himself  to  be  Rector,  and  renewed 
his  allegiance  to  the  doctrine  and  teaching  of  the  Church 
of  England.  This  was  an  important  epoch  in  the  history 
of  Trinity  Church  and  of  the  country  as  well,  for  the  Revo- 
lutionary War  was  already  at  hand.  In  conducting  divine 
service  during  that  trying  period  Mr.  Sayre  felt  himself 
bound  to  omit  the  prayer  for  the  King  in  the  Liturgy. 

This  begot  great  opposition  from  the  majority  of  the 
people. 

On  the  eighth  of  July,  1779,  Gen.  Tryon's  fleet  appeared 
off  the  Fairfield  coast. 

A  large  force  of  troops  were  landed,  and  during  the 
night  many  houses  and  stores  were  burned,  and  by  the  next 
morning  the  conflagration  had  become  general. 

In  a  letter  of  that  time  it  is  said  that  Mr.  Sayre  had 
implored  Gen.  Tryon  to  spare  the  town.  Especially  the  two 
places  of  worship,  the  Episcopal  and  Congregational,  but 
everything  was  destroyed,  including  the  Church  records 
previous  to  that  time. 

After  the  burning  of  Fairfield  Mr.  Sayre  departed  for 
New  York  with  his  family  for  a  much  needed  rest;  this  he 
shortly  afterwards  concluded  to  make  final,  so  far  as  Fair- 
field  was  concerned,  by  resigning. 

He  finally  settled  in  New  Brunswick,  Nova  Scotia. 
Soon  after  the  Rev.  Mr.  Sayre's  departure,  a  prominent 
Churchman  of  Greenfield,  Mr.  Hull  Sherwood,  called  a 
meeting  at  his  residence. 

A  resolution  was  passed  to  the  effect  that  having  heard 
that  Mr.  Philo  Shelton  was  purposing  to  enter  Holy  Orders 
he  be  appointed  "to  read  and  to  officiate"  for  Trinity 
parish.  Mr.  Shelton  accepted  the  invitation  and  after  his 
ordination  was  Rector  from  1785  to  1825,  a  period  covering 
forty  years. 

The  work  of  the  Venerable  Society  for  the  Propagation  of 
the  Gospel  in  the  United  States  ended  upon  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence. 


—32— 

After  the  great  fire  services  were  held  at  private  houses 
until  a  more  convenient  time  when  the  use  of  the  town 
house  was  secured,  and  used  until  1790,  when  a  meeting 
was  held  to  vote  upon  the  site  of  another  Church. 

The  result  of  this  was  the  erection  of  the  third  Church 
edifice  on  Mill  Plain,  not  very  far  from  the  site  of  the  first 
building,  which  had  been  dedicated  as  was  stated  above 
by  Dr.  Johnson. 


St.  James's  Church,  New  London 

1702-1725. 

IT  was  nearly  sixty  years  after  John  Winthrop  on  a  May 
morning  in  1646  had  led  his  company  of  settlers  to  the 
banks  of  the  Pequot  river,  and  there  founded  a  town  which 
he  fondly  hoped  would  be  to  the  new  world  what  London 
was  to  the  mother  country,  that  the  first  recorded  service 
of  the  Church  of  England  was  held  in  New  London. 
There  had  been,  indeed,  among  the  early  settlers  a  clergy- 
man in  English  orders,  but  he  had  become  a  non-conformist, 
and  officiated  as  the  first  Congregational  minister  of  the 
new  settlement.  There  seem  to  have  been  very  few,  if  any, 
Churchmen  in  New  London  until  the  eighteenth  century. 
No  effort  was  made  by  the  Church  at  home  to  seek  out 
Churchmen  stranded  among  the  Puritan  colonists  of  New 
England,  and  it  was  not  until  the  formation  of  the  Propaga- 
tion Society,  that  there  was  any  systematic  attempt  to 
establish  missions  of  the  Church  wherever  there  was  any 
probability  of  growth  and  permanence. 

To  those  brave  missionaries  of  the  Cross,  those  pioneers 
in  the  good  work  of  the  Catholic  Church  of  Christ  in  the 
American  colonies,  the  Rev.  George  Keith  and  the  Rev.  John 
Talbot,  belong  the  honor  of  being  the  first  clergymen  of  the 


REV.   GEORGE   KEITH. 

First  Missionary  of  the  S.  P.  G.  to  preach  in  Conn.     He  preached 
in  the  Congregational  Church  in  New  London,  Sept.  13,  1702. 


—33— 

Church  to  visit  New  London.  They  had  undertaken  for 
the  Propagation  Society  a  tour  of  investigation  from  New 
Hampshire  to  North  Carolina.  They  were  men  of  earnest 
zeal,  great  energy  and  persuasive  eloquence.  They  were 
able  to  search  out  the  land  and  from  their  reports  missions 
were  established  and  missionaries  sent  by  the  Venerable 
Society.  To  them  the  American  Church  owes  a  debt  of 
real  gratitude,  although  their  work  was  not  always  perma- 
nent; certainly  in  Connecticut  no  result  of  their  ministra- 
tions was  apparent. 

After  a  delightful  visit  to  the  Churchmen  of  Newport, 
they  had  crossed  Narragansett  Bay,  that  is  still  the  glory  of 
Rhode  Island;  they  had  passed  through  the  "prodigious 
rocky  country"  around  Stonington,  and  on  Thursday, 
September  loth,  1702,  crossed  the  ferry  to  New  London. 
Here  they  were  received  with  kindness  and  courtesy  by  all, 
and  especially  those  in  authority.  Their  own  words  can 
best  give  the  record  of  that  historic  service  on  the  following 
Sunday : 

"September  I3th,  Sunday,  Mr.  Talbot  preached  there  in 
the  forenoon,  and  I  preached  there  in  the  afternoon,  we 
being  desired  to  do  so  by  the  minister,  Mr.  Gurdon  Salton- 
stall,  who  civilly  entertained  us  at  his  house,  and  expressed 
his  good  affections  to  the  Church  of  England.  My  text 
was  Rom.  viii :  9.  The  auditory  was  large  and  well 
affected.  Colonel  Winthrop,  Governor  of  the  colony,  after 
forenoon  services,  invited  us  to  dinner  at  his  house,  and 
kindly  entertained  us,  both  then  and  the  next  day."* 

Dr.  Hallam  in  his  valuable  "Annals"  says  of  this  ser- 
vice :  "Thus  it  appears  that  the  text  of  one  of  the  first  two 
Episcopal  sermons  ever  preached  in  New  London,  probably 
in  Connecticut,  was  this:  'But  ye  are  not  in  the  flesh,  but 
in  the  spirit,  if  so  be  that  the  spirit  of  God  dwell  in  you. 

*  Quoted  on  p.   10  of  Hallam's  "Annals   of   St.    James's,    New 
London,"  from  Keith's  "Journal." 
3 


—34— 

Now  if  any  man  have  not  the  spirit  of  Christ,  he  is  none 
of  His';  a  not  unpleasing  preface  to  that  protracted  course 
of  Christian  teaching  which  has  succeeded  it,  with  a  faithful 
maintenance  of  the  same  precious  doctrine." 

We  have  another  glimpse  of  Mr.  Talbot  in  the  history  of 
the  Church  in  New  London,  for  on  October  24th,  1724,  he 
baptized  "Lauzerne,  son  of  Richard  and  Elizabeth  Wilson." 
Had  he  not  found  his  life-work  elsewhere,  he  might  have 
been  able  to  do  for  Connecticut  what  he  did  for  New  Jersey. 
His  long  rectorship  of  St.  Mary's,  Burlington,  his  pleading 
for  the  Episcopate,  his  visiting  and  strengthening  all  the 
parishes  of  the  Church  in  that  province,  his  gifts  to  his 
parish,  which  are  still  doing  good,  his  probable  consecration 
by  the  non-jurors  as  a  Bishop  in  the  Church  of  God,  make 
him  one  of  the  most  attractive  as  he  certainly  was  one 
of  the  most  fearless  of  the  Colonial  clergy. 

In  1723  Mr.  Pigot,  a  missionary  of  the  Society  for  the 
Propagation  of  the  Gospel,  baptized  in  New  London  a  little 
child,  and  the  following  year  two  more  little  ones  were 
received  into  Christ's  flock.  Like  the  delicate,  pure  snow- 
drop that  heralds  the  spring  and  the  time  of  growth,  these 
young  lives  gave  token  of  a  movement  and  awakening  in 
things  spiritual  in  a  field  which  had  hitherto  lain  fallow, 
but  which  was  now  to  bear  abundantly.  Dr.  Johnson  in 
1724  writes  to  the  Society  that  he  has  preached  in  New 
London  to  sixty  hearers,  with  promise  of  increase  if  they 
had  a  minister.  Dr.  James  MacSparran,  missionary  of  the 
Society  in  Narragansett,  extended  his  ministrations  to  the 
incipient  parish  in  New  London,  and  visited  it  from  time  to 
time,  giving  encouragement  and  advice.  The  early  members 
of  the  growing  parish  were  many  of  them  Englishmen,  who 
had  come  hither  from  England  to  engage  in  maritime  and 
commercial  business,  and  who  were  interested  in  establishing 
the  mother  Church  in  their  new  home. 

September  27,  1725,  was  the  birthday  of  the  parish,  the 
day  that  it  took  practical  form  in  a  written  agreement  signed 


—35— 

by  seven  men.  Negotiations  were  at  once  begun  for  build- 
ing a  church.  A  lot  on  the  lower  part  of  State  street,  called 
the  Parade,  was  presented  by  a  friend,  and  a  church  edifice 
was  erected  thereon  of  stout  oak  timber,  32  by  50  feet, 
with  a  bell.  The  original  number  of  pews  was  twenty-two, 
and  new  pews  were  added  as  the  congregation  increased. 

Samuel  Seabury  of  Groton,  a  descendant  of  John  Alden, 
and  a  Harvard  graduate,  ordained  in  England  by  the  Bishop 
of  London,  was  commissioned  in  1732,  by  the  Society  for 
the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel,  to  exercise  his  priestly  office 
at  New  London  on  a  salary  of  sixty  pounds,  with  an  arrear- 
age "from  the  feast  day  of  St.  John  the  Baptist,  which 
was  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1730." 

His  ministry  was  wise  and  faithful,  and  there  was  a 
gradual  and  steady  increase  of  strength  in  the  membership. 
He  remained  in  New  London  about  eleven  years,  and  was 
then  transferred  by  the  Society  to  Hempstead,  Long  Island, 
where  he  died  in  1764. 

The  parish  was  first  designated  as  St.  James's  parish  in 
1741,  having  previously  on  the  records  been  called  the 
Episcopal  Church  of  New  London. 

Four  years  elapsed  after  the  departure  of  Mr.  Seabury 
before  the  parish  had  again  a  settled  minister.  Occasional 
services  were  held  in  the  meantime  by  Dr.  MacSparran  and 
others.  The  wardens  sent  earnest  appeals  to  the  Society 
already  mentioned,  that  they  might  not  be  left  as  "sheep 
without  a  shepherd,"  and  by  the  desire  of  the  Society  a 
lot  was  secured,  the  gift  of  one  Samuel  Edgecomb,  and  a 
parsonage  built.  In  1747,  the  Rev.  Matthew  Graves  was 
sent  from  England  by  the  Society,  and  he  ministered  to  St. 
James's  parish  for  about  thirty  years.  He  was  a  man  of 
zeal  and  devotion,  genial  by  nature,  but  at  times  somewhat 
hasty,  and  when  the  whole  country  was  stirred  by  the  War 
of  the  Revolution,  the  problems  he  had  to  face  were  greater 
than  his  wisdom  in  dealing  with  them.  He  did  not  recog- 


-36- 

nize  the  momentous  hour  of  the  birth  of  a  republic,  but 
thinking  only  of  himself  as  an  Englishman,  and  perhaps 
also  of  the  indebtedness  of  the  parish  to  English  aid, 
he  faltered  in  patriotism,  and  incensed  his  parishioners  by 
his  obstinate  disregard  of  their  dearest  convictions.  In  a 
final  painful  scene  he  was  driven  by  them  from  the  parish, 
never  again  to  return.  He  was  ultimately  sent,  under  a 
flag  of  truce,  to  New  York,  where  he  died  in  1780. 

Such  a  crisis,  so  far-reaching  in  its  relations,  could  not 
be  passed  over  in  a  month,  or  in  a  year.  But  as  time  went 
by,  and  the  independence  of  the  United  States  became  more 
and  more  a  fixed  fact,  the  parishioners  of  St.  James,  long- 
ing to  renew  the  Church  services,  sought  for  a  leader  who 
should  be  both  a  pastor  and  patriot.  And  such  a  one  they 
might  have  found,  had  peace  been  restored,  but  fire  and 
sword  were  still  laying  waste  the  land;  and  by  the  treachery 
of  Arnold  and  the  burning  of  New  London,  September 
6th,  1781,  St.  James's  Church  was  reduced  to  a  smouldering 
heap  in  the  general  conflagration.  The  parsonage,  situated 
at  a  distance,  and  not  in  the  track  of  the  troops,  escaped. 

The  church  had  never  been  formally  consecrated,  for  as 
yet  there  had  been  no  Bishop  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic. 
But  when,  a  few  years  later,  a  new  "St.  James's  Church" 
was  built,  on  a  new  site  near  the  parsonage,  it  was  conse- 
crated by  Bishop  Seabury,  who  had  already  become  a  resi- 
dent of  the  town,  and  had  begun  to  hold  services  in  the 
court  house.  He  was  the  second  son  of  the  first  settled 
clergyman,  Rev.  Samuel  Seabury.  He  had  gone  to  Eng- 
land for  ordination,  and  had  returned  to  America  as  a 
missionary  of  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel. 
After  the  Revolution,  received  Episcopal  consecration  in 
Scotland  and  came  home  to  America  as  Bishop  of  Connec- 
ticut. 

The  foundation  stone  of  the  new  church,  on  Main 
street,  was  laid  July  4,  1785,  and  the  church  was  conse- 


H    g 


9  S 


—37— 

crated  by  Bishop  Seabury,  September  20,  1787.  In  1790 
his  Diocese  was  enlarged  to  include  Rhode  Island,  but  New 
London  remained  his  home,  and  his  parochial  labors  here 
continued  until  his  death  in  1796.  He  was  buried  in  the 
old  churchyard  at  New  London. 

His  remains  now  lie  under  the  chancel  of  the  present 
"St.  James,"  and  on  a  brass  plate  above  the  tomb  is  a  Latin 
inscription  which,  translated,  is  as  follows: 

"Under  the  pavement  of  the  altar,  as  in  the  final  place  of 
rest  until  the  judgment  of  the  great  day,  now  repose  the 
mortal  remains  of  the  Right  Reverend  Prelate,  Samuel  Sea- 
bury,  D.D.  Oxon.,  who  first  brought  from  Scotland,  into 
the  Anglo-American  Republic  of  the  new  World,  the  Apos- 
tolic succession,  November  27,  1784.  His  diocese,  never 
forgetful  of  the  labors  and  trials  of  so  dear  a  person,  in  the 
new  Church  of  St.  James  the  greater,  of  New  London,  for- 
merly his  see,  now  at  last,  after  so  long  a  time,  have  taken 
care  to  place  this  monument  to  his  honor,  in  the  year  of  our 
salvation,  1849." 

He  was  succeeded  in  1796  by  his  son,  the  Rev.  Charles 
Seabury,  who  discharged  the  duties  of  the  parish  until  May 
26,  1814,  when  he  resigned  his  charge  and  removed  to 
Setauket,  Long  Island.  The  Church  services  were  now  for 
a  period  conducted  by  a  lay  reader  until,  in  1815,  the  Rev. 
Solomon  Blakeslee  became  Rector,  and  so  remained  for  three 
years.  During  his  ministry,  an  organ  was  for  the  first  time 
placed  in  the  church.  The  music  before  this  time  had  been 
simply  vocal.  The  people  sat  during  the  singing  and  rose 
only  at  the  "Gloria  Patri." 

Two  important  anniversaries  have  been  observed.  One, 
in  1896,  was  the  centenary  of  the  death  of  Bishop  Seabury, 
in  thanksgiving  for  the  work  he  did,  both  in  his  parish 
and  in  the  Diocese.  There  was,  on  this  anniversary,  a 
Diocesan  celebration,  Bishop  Williams  being  celebrant. 
Bishop  Coleman  of  Delaware  preached  in  the  morning,  and 


-38- 

Rev.  Dr.  Seabury  of  New  York,  a  great  grandson  of 
Bishop  Seabury,  in  the  evening.  More  than  forty  of  the 
clergy  were  present,  and  the  choir  was  assisted  by  the  choir 
of  Christ  Church,  Westerly,  in  recognition  of  the  fact  that 
Bishop  Seabury  was  Bishop  of  Connecticut  and  Rhode 
Island,  his  Diocese  including  both  states. 

In  1900,  on  St.  Barnabas's  Day,  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of 
the  consecration  of  St.  James's  Church  was  observed.  A 
number  of  the  clergy  were  present.  There  was  an  early 
celebration,  Rev.  Dr.  Binney,  assisted  by  Rev.  Mr.  Punnett, 
a  former  assistant,  being  celebrant.  There  was  later  a 
full  choral  celebration,  Rev.  Dr.  Grint  being  celebrant.  The 
sermon  was  preached  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Grosvenor. 

Thus,  St.  James's  parish  looks  back  over  great  periods  of 
time — fifty  years  to  the  consecration  of  its  present  church 
building,  one  hundred  years  to  the  death  of  its  third  Rector, 
Bishop  Seabury,  one  hundred  and  seventy-eight  years  to 
that  first  baptism  of  a  little  child  by  Mr.  Pigot,  missionary 
of  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel,  and  one 
hundred  and  ninety-nine  years  to  the  preaching  of  the  first 
missionary  of  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel 
in  Connecticut. 


—39— 

Trinity  Parish,  Newtown 
1732. 

NEWTOWN  Parish  was  founded  in  1732,  the  Rev. 
John  Beach  being  its  first  Rector.  He  had  labored 
here  for  eight  years  as  Congregational  minister;  until, 
compelled  by  his  convictions  to  give  up  his  position,  he 
became  a  communicant  of  the  Church  at  Stratford  and 
was  soon  admitted  to  Holy  Orders  in  England,  1732.  He 
was  appointed  missionary  at  Newtown  and  Redding  by 
the  Venerable  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel, 
and  began  his  work  alone  in  northwestern  Connecticut  in 
the  face  of  bitter  opposition  and  with  a  small  flock  of  five 
families. 

Having  no  church  building,  the  services  were  held  in 
his  own  house.  In  those  days  Churchmen  came  from  New 
Milford  and  other  remote  places  to  worship  at  Newtown, 
sometimes  coming  on  Saturday  with  their  needful  supplies, 
while  their  brethren  gave  them  house  room. 

Down  to  the  end  of  1734  there  were  in  Connecticut  four 
missionaries  and  five  houses  of  worship — one  of  these  at 
Newtown.  The  first  church  building  was  28  by  24  feet. 
It  was  raised  on  Saturday,  the  roof  boards  put  on  the  same 
evening,  and  the  next  day  the  faithful  few  assembled  for 
divine  service,  sitting  on  the  timbers  and  kneeling  on  the 
ground.  The  second  church  building,  finished  in  1746,  was 
double  the  capacity  of  the  first.  Mr.  Beach  divided  his 
time  between  Redding  and  Newtown,  reporting  to  the 
Venerable  Society  at  one  time  an  attendance  of  over  three 
hundred  at  Redding  and  over  six  hundred  at  Newtown. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution  the  communicants 
numbered  three  hundred.  These  were  trying  times  for 
Churchmen,'  yet  the  Church  was  winning  its  way  in  spite 


—40— 

of  much  opposition,  sufferings  and  dangers.  Warnings 
were  repeatedly  given  to  cease  praying  for  the  King;  but 
the  Rector  at  Newtown,  alone  of  all  the  clergy  in  the  colony, 
continued  his  services  without  interruption  through  the 
entire  Revolutionary  period.  It  is  related  on  one  occasion 
that  soldiers  entered  the  church  and  threatened  to  shoot  the 
Rev.  John  Beach  if  he  read  the  prayer  for  the  King  and  the 
royal  family.  Mr.  Beach,  however,  went  on  as  usual  with 
no  change,  while  the  soldiers,  struck  with  such  quiet  cour- 
age, stacked  their  muskets  and  remained  through  the  ser- 
vice. Mr.  Beach  died  in  1782  and  his  successor  was  the 
Rev.  Philo  Perry.  During  his  rectorship  the  third  church 
was  erected.  It  was  formally  named  "Trinity  Church,"  and 
was  consecrated  by  Bishop  Seabury.  This  Church  stood 
for  seventy-seven  years,  until  replaced  by  the  present  beauti- 
ful stone  edifice.  Mr.  Perry  was  Rector  for  twelve  years. 

On  August  5,  1799,  the  Rev.  Daniel  Burhans,  D.D.,  was 
chosen  Rector,  remaining  with  the  parish  more  than  thirty 
years,  when  the  infirmities  of  age  obliged  him  to  resign. 
Thus  a  period  of  one  century  was  covered  by  these  first 
three  rectorships,  marking  three  different  periods  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  Church  in  this  country.  The  first  takes  us  down 
to  the  Revolution,  through  the  times  when  Holy  Orders 
could  be  obtained  only  by  incurring  the  dangers  of  three 
thousand  miles  of  ocean  travel,  when  the  baptized  went 
unconfirmed  for  want  of  a  bishop. 

The  influence  of  Trinity  Church,  Newtown,  upon  the 
Church  in  other  places  cannot  be  measured.  While  in 
recent  years,  it  has  lost  many  in  numbers  it  looks  back  with 
pride  upon  its  noble  history,  and  less  than  fifty  years  ago 
a  Rector  of  Christ  Church,  Hartford,  declined  a  call  to  New- 
town  because  it  was  a  "larger  and  more  arduous  work  than 
he  was  then  engaged  in !" 


•TWlffil      -  : 
>:nBH    >  s 


H       3 

U 

^      -g 


—41- 
St.  James's  Parish,  Poquetanuck 

1734- 

IT  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  the  early  history  of  this 
parish  is  so  very  meager,  owing  to  the  fact  that  the 
parish  register  and  other  records  were  cast  away  with  his 
furniture,  after  the  decease  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Punderson. 
Especially  is  this  to  be  regretted  at  this  jubilee  anniversary, 
when,  on  account  of  its  antiquity  this  venerable  parish 
might  stand  in  the  front,  with  an  interesting  report  of  its 
early  missionary  work. 

It  is  very  difficult — almost  impossible — in  this  age  of 
broad  and  liberal  thought,  to  realize  the  position  of  the 
followers  of  the  Church  of  England  in  the  colonies.  The 
Puritans  came  here  for  "freedom  to  worship  God," — as  the 
poet  hath  it,  but  it  was  freedom  for  themselves, — not  for 
those  who  differed  from  them.  Presbyterianism  was,  in 
fact,  the  State  religion,  and  all  the  people  were  compelled  to 
pay  taxes  for  its  maintenance.  And  no  other  ministry  or 
Church  could  be  entertained  or  attended  by  the  inhabitants 
of  any  town  or  plantation,  under  penalty  of  a  fine  of  five 
pounds  for  every  offense. 

This  was  previous  to  1727,  when  a  "Relief"  law  was 
passed  by  the  General  Assembly,  exempting  the  members  of 
the  Church  of  England  from  such  a  fine,  provided  there 
was  a  regularly  ordained  minister  established  and  perform- 
ing the  duties  of  his  office.  But  little  difficulty,  however, 
was  found  in  evading  this  exemption  where  public  opinion 
was  against  the  Church.  One  of  our  former  rectors  (Rev. 
Mr.  Welton)  compiled  a  fragmentary  history  of  the  parish 
from  Church  documents  and  letters,  costing  him  much  time 
and  labor,  and  which  form  the  basis  of  this  sketch. 

Mr.  Punderson's  letters  to  the  Society  for  the  Propaga- 
tion of  the  Gospel  tell  of  his  trials  and  perplexities  bravely 


—42— 

met  and  endured.  One  to  the  Bishop  of  London  describes 
the  strange  excitement  and  actions  of  the  people  who  came 
under  the  influence  of  the  "vagrant  preacher,"  Daven- 
port of  Long  Island,  and  the  anxiety  of  some  of  them  for 
his  conversion, — as  "he  was  leading  his  people  down  to 
hell,"  as  they  expressed  it.  After  this  period  of  wild 
fanaticism  had  passed  away,  and  people  came  to  their  senses, 
it  resulted  in  many  of  them  conforming  to  the  spiritual  and 
sober  ways  of  the  Church.  In  a  long  letter  to  the  Secretary 
of  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  he  relates 
one  of  his  missionary  journeys  in  Connecticut,  and  sums  up 
by  saying  that,  "in  the  space  of  nine  days  I  travelled  near 
two  hundred  miles  (a  long  and  tedious  journey  at  that 
time),  baptised  twelve  children,  preached  nine  sermons 
(probably  of  the  goodly  length  of  old  times),  and  had 
near  one  thousand  persons  attend  divine  service  in  the 
several  places."  This  is  only  one  of  many  similar  journeys. 

It  may  not  be  amiss  to  mention  here,  that,  during  the 
absence  of  Mr.  Punderson  to  obtain  ordination  in  England, 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Seabury,  afterwards  our  first  Bishop,  had  the 
care  of  Mr.  Punderson's  new  converts:  no  parish  having 
been  organized  at  that  time. 

How  interesting  it  would  be  if  we  could  have  some  knowl- 
edge of  the  personal  appearance  of  our  first  missionary,  but 
no  likeness  of  him  has  descended  to  us. 

Probably  he  had  the  staid  and  solemn  appearance  of  the 
ministers  of  that  time;  possibly  he  wras  awkward  in  his 
ways,  and  too  frank  in  his  manner  of  speech,  for  although  a 
brother  minister  speaks  of  him  as  "an  honest  and  laborious 
man,"  he  laments  his  "want  of  politeness,"  which  detracted 
from  his  work  in  New  Haven. 

It  matters  not  if  his  manners  were  not  those  of  a  Ches- 
terfield; like  St.  Paul,  he  endured  hardships  as  a  soldier  of 
Christ,  and  has  entered  into  his  reward. 

The  following  sketch  of  his  life  was  written  by  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Welton,  one  of  his  successors  at  Poquetanuck. 


—43— 

New  England  ecclesiastical  writers  have  sometimes  com- 
plained that  missionaries  of  the  Church  of  England  "in- 
vaded," when  these  colonies  were  under  charter  govern- 
ments, the  home  which  the  Puritans  had  made  for  them- 
selves as  the  asylum  of  religious  freedom.  Yet  this  charge 
of  "invasion"  of  privilege  is  a  tacit  confession  that  what 
they  call  religious  liberty  was  real  religious  tyranny  to  all 
others  than  those  of  the  dominant  sect:  for  if  all  were 
to  have  liberty  of  the  same  kind  and  degree,  there  could  be 
no  invasion  of  privilege,  or  trespassing  upon  others'  rights. 
Civil  war  is  never  called  invasion  in  any  true  sense.  A  late 
apologist  for  the  New  England  Puritans,  says:  "This  is  a 
point  concerning  which  there  has  been  a  great  deal  of  popu- 
lar misapprehension  and  there  has  been  a  great  deal  of  non- 
sense talked  about  it.  It  has  been  customary  first  to  assume 
that  the  Puritan  migration  was  undertaken  in  the  interest 
of  religious  liberty,  and  then  to  upbraid  the  Puritans  for 
forgetting  all  about  religious  liberty  as  soon  as  people  came 
among  them  who  disagreed  with  their  opinions.  But  this 
view  is  not  supported  by  history.  It  is  quite  true  that  the 
Puritans  were,  to  a  certain  extent,  chargeable  with  intole- 
rance :  but  it  is  not  true  that  in  this  they  were  guilty  of  any 
inconsistency.  The  notion  that  they  came  to  New  England 
for  the  purpose  of  establishing  religious  liberty,  in  any  sense 
in  which  we  should  understand  such  a  phrase,  is  entirely 
incorrect.  It  is  neither  more  nor  less  than  a  bit  of  popular 
legend:  If  we  mean  by  the  phrase  religious  liberty,  a  state 
of  things  in  which  opposite  or  contradictory  opinions  on 
questions  of  religion  shall  exist  side  by  side  in  the  same 
community,  and  in  which  everybody  shall  decide  for  himself 
how  far  he  will  conform  to  the  customary  religious  obser- 
vances, nothing  could  have  been  further  from  their  thoughts. 
There  is  nothing  they  would  have  regarded  with  more 
genuine  abhorrence.  If  they  could  have  been  warned  by  a 
prophetic  voice  of  the  general  freedom — or,  as  they  would 
have  termed  it,  license — of  thought  and  behavior  which  pre- 


—44— 

vails  in  this  country  to-day,  it  is  not  unlikely  that  they  would 
have  abandoned  their  enterprise  in  despair,  and  would  have 
remained  in  England.  ...  In  such  a  scheme  of  theo- 
retical government  as  theirs,  there  was  no  room  for  religious 
liberty." — Harper's  Monthly,  December,  1882,  p.  116. 

But  if  it  could  be  conceded — as  it  certainly  cannot — that 
the  country  belonged  exclusively  to  them,  and  that  therefore 
no  Churchman,  Quaker,  or  Anabaptist,  had  a  right  to  settle 
here ;  the  coming  of  the  missionaries  of  the  English  Church 
was  only  the  administration  of  the  ordinances  of  Christ, 
by  natives  of  the  country,  most  of  whom  had  been  ministers 
of  the  established  order,  or  candidates  for  that  ministry, 
educated  in  Puritan  colleges,  and  if  it  were  right,  for  con- 
science's sake  to  separate  from  the  Church  of  England,  who 
will  say  it  was  wrong  to  return  to  that  Church — for  con- 
science's sake? 

It  is  a  matter  of  interest  in  the  history  of  the  mission  at 
North  Groton,  that  the  first  two  dissenting  ministers  who, 
in  eastern  Connecticut  conformed  to  the  Church,  viz: 
Samuel  Seabury,  Sen.,  and  Ebenezer  Punderson,  had  both 
preached  as  Congregationalists  in  that  parish ;  the  former 
as  a  temporary  supply,  the  latter  as  the  first  settled  pastor. 
Mr.  Punderson  began  his  work  as  missionary  of  the  "Society 
for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts" — a 
voluntary  society  dispensing  only  voluntary  contributions — 
in  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1734.  It  is  but  fair  to  state 
that  those  who  went  from  America  for  ordination,  had 
been  led  to  believe  through  the  reading  of  the  scriptures,  and 
ancient  authors,  that  "from  the  Apostles'  days  there  had 
been"  and  therefore  there  ought  always  to  be,  "these  three 
orders  of  ministers  in  Christ's  Church,"  commonly  called 
"bishops,  priests,  and  deacons" ;  and  that  themselves  had 
no  right  to  administer  the  sacraments  of  Christ  without 
having  been  Episcopally  ordained.  , 

Mr.  Punderson  was  a  native  of  New  Haven,  and  a  grad- 
uate of  Yale  College  in  the  class  of  1726.  He  was  (Pres- 


—45— 

byterially)  ordained  at  North  Groton,  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
one.  On  the  first  of  January  previous  to  his  dismission, 
(after  less  than  five  years'  service)  he  made  a  communica- 
tion to  the  Society,  avowing  himself  a  conformist  to  the 
Episcopal  Church  of  England.  This  communication  was 
received,  it  is  said,  with  amazement  and  sorrow ;  and  a  com- 
mittee chosen,  "consisting  of  Robert  Geer,  Christopher 
Avery,  and  Benjamin  Gallup,  to  reason  with  him,  and  see  if 
he  might  not  be  persuaded  that  his  ordination  was  good  and 
that  he  might  return  to  his  people  again."  They  also  sent 
a  petition  to  the  General  Assembly  in  May  [1734],  asking 
them  "to  do  something  for  their  relief" — though  what  they 
could  have  done  is  beyond  the  comprehension  of  this  genera- 
tion. In  this  petition  "they  mention  their  happiness  under 
Mr.  Punderson  for  about  two  years  and  a  half;  when  it 
pleased  God  in  his  providence  to  leave  him  to  believe  and 
hold  some  things  which  they  thought  erroneous;  and  not- 
withstanding many  private  conferences,  associations  and 
counsels  of  Rev'd  ministers  in  the  neighborhood,  'together 
with  fasting  and  prayer  for  his  recovery/  Mr.  Punderson 
still  persisted  in  his  views,  and  ten  or  twelve  of  the  people 
of  the  parish  and  heads  of  families  had  signed  his  papers 
and  contributed  money  to  bear  his  expenses  to  England."  It 
seems  to  have  been  a  surprise  to  his  old  parishioners  gen- 
erally, that,  he,  an  educated  and  trained  theologian,  who 
had  examined  carefully  the  question  of  ministerial  authority, 
was  not  convinced  by  a  committee  of  layman  who  had  not. 
One  of  the  committee  of  three,  Robert  Geer,  followed  his 
pastor  into  the  English  Church. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Seabury,  who  was  then  stationed  at  New 
London,  officiated  statedly  in  North  Groton,  for  Mr.  Pun- 
derson's  new  converts,  while  he  was  absent  in  England. 
He  returned  in  orders  in  the  autumn  of  the  same  year  [1734] , 
and  immediately  entered  upon  his  mission.  It  is  said  that  a 
church  was  built  there  "soon  after";  but  there  is  no  cer- 
tain date  of  its  building.  We  only  know  from  his  report 


dated  June,  1739,  that  a  church  had  been  built,  for  it  was 
used  on  the  preceding  Christmas  day  [1738]  when,  he 
says,  he  had  a  congregation  of  four  hundred  persons,  but 
does  not  state  what  proportion  of  them  were  his  stated 
hearers.  It  is  not  probable  that  his  people  waited  four 
years  for  a  house  of  worship.  The  building  stood  on  what 
is  still  called  "Church  Hill,"  a  mile  and  a  half  northeast  of 
the  meeting  house  at  the  centre,  and  some  three  miles  from 
the  head  of  Poquetanuck  cove,  where  it  was  re-erected  in 
1785,  on  "Shingle  Point." 

Mr.  Punderson's  house  stood  at  the  foot  of  "Church 
Hill,"  nearly  opposite  the  present  "Bill  Parsonage,"  where 
the  cellar  walls,  and  some  fragments  of  the  building  are  still 
to  be  seen.  This  was  the  first  Church  parsonage  in  eastern 
Connecticut.  In  it  Bishop  Seabury  was  born,  November 
30,  1729. 

Among  the  State  papers  at  Hartford,  there  is  a  nearly 
full  list  of  all  the  male  members  of  the  Church  of  England 
in  Connecticut,  over  sixteen  years  of  age, — six  hundred  and 
thirty-six  in  all, — one  hundred  and  four  of  whom  were  under 
Mr.  Punderson's  pastoral  care  in  North  Groton  and  Nor- 
wich. There  are  five  each  of  the  names  of  Williams  and 
Rode  [Rood?],  three  each  of  the  names  of  Ames,  Geer, 
Hide,  Minor,  Park,  Rose,  Pelton,  Spicer,  Starkweather, 
Stoddard,  and  Waterman;  two  each  of  Capron,  Crouch, 
Forsec  [Forsyth?],  Killam,  Lee,  Turner,  Wilkinson,  and 
Willoughby.  The  single  names  are:  Allyn,  Ashcraft,  Bar- 
ker, Bassett,  Barnard,  Bennett,  Bordish,  Button,  Cleveland, 
Cramer,  Davis,  Dean,  Dickinson,  Dood,  Downing,  Doyle, 
Fanning,  Fountain,  Frink,  Gray,  Grist,  Hancock,  Holdridge, 
Holly,  Houghton,  Hutchinson,  Larkin,  Lancaster,  Leeds, 
Malason,  McCloughton,  Meach,  Norton,  Nuton  [Newton], 
Parish,  Randal,  Ranger,  Raynolds,  Rouse,  Samson,  Thiton, 
Utley,  Welsh,  Wickwire,  and  Weeks. 

These  names  are  signed  to  a  petition  to  the  General 
Assembly,  asking  for  the  Church  of  England  and  her 


—47— 

schools,  their  rightful  proportion  of  certain  public  moneys 
accruing  from  the  sale  of  three  townships  in  the  western 
part  of  the  colony ;  and  which,  it  had  been  proposed,  should 
be  appropriated  for  the  benefit  of  the  Congregational  [or 
Presbyterian]  Churches  and  schools.  The  petition  was  not 
granted :  but  the  vigorous  protest  of  the  Connecticut 
Churchmen  resulted  in  the  setting  apart  of  the  whole  sum 
as  a  fund  for  common  schools. 

Mr.  Punderson,  in  the  first  of  his  reports  that  have  been 
published  in  this  country,  dated  June  18,  1739,  says  that 
there  has  been  a  great  increase  in  the  number  of  his  par- 
ishioners, and  a  corresponding  change  in  the  temper  of 
dissenting  brethren;  many  of  whom,  he  says,  from  being 
haters  and  revilers  of  the  Church  and  her  clergy,  have  been 
brought  to  occasionally  attend  her  services.  On  the  pre- 
ceding Christmas,  and  on  a  Lord's  Day  afterwards  "more 
than  four  hundred  persons  of  sober  and  devout  behavior, 
were  present  in  Church,  many  of  whom  had  been  bitter 
enemies."  No  description  of  the  first  church  edifice  can  be 
found.  It  was  probably  nearly  square,  perhaps  forty  by 
sixty  feet — with  galleries,  and  without  a  steeple.  Probably 
also  it  had  arched  windows,  as  it  certainly  had  after  it  was 
removed  to  Poquetanuck. 

In  1741,  the  missionary  says  his  labors  were  greatly  in- 
creased in  consequence  of  the  surprising  disturbing  results 
of  the  preaching  of  Whitefield  and  his  followers ;  the  par- 
ish of  North  Groton  [or  that  part  of  the  town  of  Groton 
now  Ledyard]  being  for  the  time,  the  centre  of  the  excite- 
ment. Soon  after  Whitefield's  visit,  says  Mr.  Punderson, 
a  number  of  wandering  [itinerant]  preachers — the  chief  of 
whom  was  one  Davenport,  of  Long  Island — went  about  the 
country,  boisterous  in  manner,  uncharitably  denouncing  the 
Church  and  her  clergy.  Those  who  were  "struck"  were  first 
seized  with  horror  and  distress.  There  were  screamings, 
faintings,  convulsions,,  visions — apparent  death  for  twenty 
or  thirty  hours ;  and,  as  some  afterwards  confessed, — actual 


—48— 

possession  by  evil  spirits.  The  spirit  of  all  was  remarkably 
bitter  against  the  Church  of  England.  The  New-Light 
preacher  and  his  followers  declared  that  Mr.  Punderson  and 
all  those  under  his  pastoral  care,  were  unconverted,  and 
going  straight  down  to  hell.  There  were  from  twenty  to 
thirty  of  these  preachers  or  exhorters  within  ten  miles  of  his 
residence.  Incredible  pains,  he  says  were  taken  to  seduce 
the  members  of  his  congregations,  but  with  little  success. 
Some  were  lost,  but  more  were  added.  His  labors  for  a 
while  became  so  incessant,  in  consequence  of  the  popular 
frenzy,  that  he  was  scarcely  allowed  a  whole  day  with  his 
family.  Mr.  Punderson  seems  not  to  have  doubted  that 
some  persons  were  actually  "possessed";  and,  in  another 
letter  he  says  that  one  such,  while  thus  possessed,  actually 
burned  about  £1,200,  probably  in  paper  currency.  On  one 
occasion  he  says,  "the  dissenting  teacher,  Mr.  Croswell, 
came,  with  a  number  of  attendants,  singing  to  my  house — 
pronounced  me  unconverted — yet  confessed  that  he  did  not 
know  me  guilty  of  any  crime.  I  assured  him,  that  in  my 
opinion,  it  was  a  greater  crime  for  him  thus  to  murder  my 
soul,  usefulness,  and  reputation,  than  for  me  to  attempt  his 
natural  life." 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Tuttle  in  his  "History  of  the  Ledyard 
Church  and  Society,"  says,  "Mr.  Croswell  was  a  man  of 
ardent  temperament,  coinciding  readily  with  the  'New  Light' 
movement,  in  sentiment  and  action ;  upholding  and  defend- 
ing by  his  writings,  the  enthusiastic  wanderings  of  Daven- 
port." 

In  1750,  Mr.  Punderson's  labors  as  an  itinerant  were 
greatly  extended.  The  members  of  the  Church  of  England 
in  Middletown,  North  Guilford  [then  called  Cohabit], 
Guilford,  Wallingford,  and  other  places,  submitted  them- 
selves to  his  pastoral  care;  and  whatever  ministerial  taxes 
they  had  been  assessed  to  pay,  he  ordered  to  be  applied 
towards  the  building  of  churches  and  maintaining  lay- 


—49— 

readers,  .  .  .  without  appropriating  any  part  thereof 
to  himself.  In  October  of  the  same  year,  he  sent  a  letter 
to  the  Secretary  of  the  Society,  which  contains  the  following 
summary  of  his  ministrations  on  one  of  these  journeys, 
which  may  be  presumed  also  to  represent  many  others :  "The 
5th  of  September,  rode  to  Middletown  [forty  miles]  and 
preached  there  next  day :  the  day  following  at  East  Haddam, 
on  Sunday  at  Middletown  (whose  church  was  unfinished), 
in  the  town-house,  it  being  quite  full,  and  administered  the 
two  sacraments ;  .  .  .  the  next  day  in  a  small  church  in 
Wallingford:  the  day  following  gave  private  baptism  to  a 
poor  weak  child,  as  I  went  to  my  native  place,  New  Haven ; 
the  Sunday  after  the  Commencement,  preached  in  the  State 
House  in  that  town,  to  a  numerous  assembly.  .  .  .  The 
day  following,  at  Branford;  upon  Tuesday,  in  the  church 
at  Guilford  to  abundance;  the  next  day  at  Cohabit;  upon 
Friday  at  Millington  (a  part  of  East  Haddam),  added  there 
two  more  to  our  communion: — the  next  day,  christened 
three  children.  I  travelled  in  this  journey  about  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty  miles,  preached  eleven  sermons,  christened 
seventeen  children.  The  Sunday  before  last,  was  at  Charles- 
town  (in  Rhode  Island),  and  the  last,  at  Norwich.  The 
Church  greatly  increases  at  both  these  places."  (Beardsley, 
I,  166-7.) 

His  stipend  from  the  S.  P.  G.  in  England,  as  Missionary 
at  North  Groton  and  Norwich,  was  seventy  pounds  sterling. 
Ten  more  were  added  on  account  of  his  labors  as  an 
itinerant — in  all  about  three  hundred  and  forty  dollars. 
What  he  received  from  the  people  is  not  stated.  The  cur- 
rency of  ..he  colony  being  in  paper,  varied  considerably  in 
relative  value  at  different  periods.  In  1761,  £40  of  it  was 
equal  to  £30  sterling. 

Once,  in  1746,  Mr.  Punderson  went  as  far  as  Litchfield, 
to  preach.     In  September,  1747,  he  says,    "they  are  build- 
ing a  church  in  Norwalk,  the  largest  and  most  flourishing 
4 


town  in  this  Colony.  There  are  about  thirty  families  of 
conformists.  This  town  has  always  had  the  character  of 
the  most  rigid  Congregationalists  in  the  government.  'Tis 
really  surprising  how  much  their  dispositions  are  softened 
toward  the  Church ;  and  indeed  'tis  so  almost  everywhere." 
(B.  I,  232.} 

In  1750,  after  sixteen  years  of  missionary  work,  he  first 
speaks  of  the  oppression  of  his  people,  who  were  compelled 
to  pay  taxes  for  the  maintenance  of  the  Congregational  or 
Presbyterian  ministers,  and  for  the  building  of  meeting- 
houses. The  original  law,  which  established  the  Presby- 
terian order,  enacted  that  in  opposition  to  this  order,  there 
should  be  "no  ministry  or  church  administration  enter- 
tained or  attended  by  the  inhabitants  of  any  town  or  planta- 
tion, upon  penalty  of  the  forfeiture  of  five  pounds  for  every 
breach  of  this  act."  (Branson's  Hist.  Waterbury,  p.  315.} 

In  1727,  in  response  to  the  earnest  petition  of  Church- 
men, backed  by  the  danger  of  losing  their  charter,  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  enacted  the  following  relief  law : 

"All  persons  who  are  of  the  Church  of  England  and  those 
who  are  of  the  Churches  established  by  ye  laws  of  the  this 
government,  yt  live  in  the  bounds  of  any  parish  allowed  by 
this  Assembly,  shall  be  taxed  by  ye  parishioners  of  ye  said 
parish,  by  ye  same  rule  and  in  ye  same  proportion,  for  ye 
support  of  ye  ministry  in  such  parish :  but  if  it  so  happens 
that  there  be  a  Society  of  the  Church  of  England,  where 
there  is  a  person  in  orders  according  to  ye  Canons  of  ye 
Church  of  England,  settled  and  abiding  among  them,  and 
performing  divine  service  so  near  to  any  person  yt  had 
declared  himself  of  the  Church  of  England,  that  he  can  and 
doth  attend  ye  public  worship  there,  then  the  collectors,  hav- 
ing first  indifferently  levied  the  tax,  as  aforesaid,  shall 
deliver  ye  taxes  collected  of  such  persons;  which  minister 
shall  have  full  power  to  receive  and  recover  ye  same,  in 
order  to  his  support  in  the  place  assigned  to  him,  .  .  . 


and  the  parishioners  of  ye  Church  of  England,  attending 
as  aforesaid,  are  hereby  excused  from  paying  any  taxes  for 
ye  building  meeting-houses  for  ye  present  established 
Churchs  of  this  government."  (Ch.  Documents,  Ct.,  I, 
282-3.} 

•  This  law  seems  sufficiently  plain ;  but  in  practice,  after 
the  fear  of  losing  their  charter  had  measurably  passed  away, 
the  acting  magistrates  found  little  difficulty  in  evading  it 
where  public  opinion  was  to  sustain  them.  Mr.  Punderson 
undertook  to  have  it  enforced  in  favor  of  some  of  his 
parishioners,  by  suing  the  collectors  for  his  rates;  but 
was  "cast"  and  compelled  to  pay  costs.  He  gave  as  a 
reason  for  undertaking  these  suits,  that  he  looked  upon  his 
parishioners  as  his  children ;  and  that,  if  it  be  the  duty 
of  the  true  pastor  to  give  his  life  for  his  flock,  it  must  be 
his  duty  to  give  his  money  freely  for  their  defense.  At 
some  of  his  stations,  his  rates  were  paid,  as  he  had  ordered, 
to  his  lay-readers  and  others,  but  in  some  other  places,  he 
says,  "they  have  been  in  the  most  vile  manner  distressing 
and  imprisoning  the  members  of  the  Church  of  England: 
while  the  Quakers  and  Baptists  fare  better,  being  univer- 
sally exempted  from  paying  taxes  to  their  establishment." 

After  the  removal  of  Mr.  Seabury  from  New  London, 
which  station  was  for  some  years  thereafter  vacant,  Mr. 
Punderson  was  the  only  missionary  in  the  county,  having 
charge  also  of  Charlestown  in  Rhode  Island. 

It  cannot  be  precisely  determined  when  he  removed  to 
New  Haven;  but,  in  a  letter  written  not  long  before  his 
death,  he  alludes  to  the  fact  that  he  had  been  in  the  Society's 
service  upwards  of  nine  years  at  New  Haven,  Guilford,  and 
Branford;  which  would  bring  him  to  his  charge  in  that 
vicinity  before  the  close  of  1752.  The  proceedings  of  the 
Society  in  1753  contain  the  following  record:  "The  Rev. 
Mr.  Punderson,  the  Society's  itinerant  missionary  in  Con- 
necticut, having  petitioned  the  Society  to  be  settled  mission- 


—52— 

ary,  with  only  part  of  his  present  salary  (which  was  seventy 
pounds  sterling),  to  the  members  of  the  Church  in  New 
Haven,  the  place  of  his  nativity  (where  a  new  church  is 
built,  to  which  Mr.  Punderson  gave  the  greatest  part  of 
the  timber)  and  to  those  of  Guilford  and  Branford,  the 
Society  have  granted  his  request."  (B.  I,  172.) 

It  is  quite  possible  he  was  made  to  feel,  at  New  Haven, 
the  truth  of  our  Lord's  saying  that  "a  prophet  is  without 
honor  in  his  own  country;"  for  his  congregation  increased 
but  slowly,  while  at  other  points  there  was  encouraging 
growth.  Dr.  Johnson  of  Stratford,  writing  to  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury  in  1760,  says,  'Mr.  Punderson  seems 
a  very  honest  and  laborious  man ;  yet  the  Church  at  New 
Haven  appears  uneasy  under  his  ministry,  occasioned,  I 
believe,  partly  by  his  want  of  politeness,  and  partly  by  his 
being  absent  so  much,  having  five  or  six  places  under  his 
care.  I  wish  he  was  again  at  Groton,  and  some  politer 
person  in  his  place."  (B.  I,  198.}  So  his  friendly  critic 
himself  confesses  that  he  was  sufficiently  "polite"  for 
Groton.  He  was  transferred  to  Rye,  New  York,  where, 
notwithstanding  his  "want  of  politeness,"  his  ministry  was 
"eminently  successful."  There  he  died  in  1771,  aged  sixty- 
three.  After  his  death,  his  widow  returned,  to  spend  the 
remainder  of  her  days  amid  the  scenes  of  his  earliest  min- 
istry. A  table-monument  erected  to  her  memory  stands  in 
the  yard  of  Christ  Church,  Norwich.  The  grave  of  her 
son  Ebenezer  is  in  Poquetanuck  cemetery.  But  of  the 
devoted  and  laborious  missionary,  who,  in  troublous  times, 
laid  the  foundation  of  this  spiritual  edifice  and  labored  upon 
it  almost  a  score  of  years,  there  is  in  the  parish, — neither 
sepulchral  monument,  window,  or  mural-tablet.  To  him  it 
matters  not,  for  his  record  is  on  high ;  but  might  it  not  be 
good  for  us  of  the  present  generation, — if  we  cannot  build 
a  Memorial  Church, — at  least  to  remember  him  in  a  chancel 
window?  A  new  church  was  built  in  1896,  in  this  old 
parish,  but  its  first  missionary  was  not  thought  of. 


—53— 

Christ  Church,  Redding 

1734- 

r  I  ^  HE  present  town  of  Redding  is  one  of  the  few  places 
JL  in  the  old  colony  of  Connecticut  where  the  Episcopal 
ministry  is  entitled  to  the  distinction  of  having  been  first 
on  the  ground,  laying  foundations  and  not  building  upon 
those  already  laid. 

In  1723  Rev.  Samuel  Johnson  of  Stratford  took  charge  of 
all  the  missionary  work  of  Connecticut  and  in  1727  sent  the 
Rev.  Henry  Caner  to  Redding,  who  became  (1733)  the  first 
minister  of  the  parish.  After  a  pastorate  of  five  years  he 
was  succeeded  by  Rev.  John  Beach,  who  served  as  a  faithful 
missionary  for  a  full  half  century,  his  pastorate  being  the 
longest  of  all  the  ante-Revolutionary  clergy.  Through  his 
instrumentality  the  first  church  on  Redding  ridge  was  built 
in  1734,  the  year  following  his  taking  charge  of  the  parish. 
The  structure  was  quite  small  and  in  1750  was  replaced  by  a 
larger  one,  surmounted  by  a  turret  which  in  1777  was 
replaced  by  a  steeple  in  which  was  placed  the  first  bell. 
In  1873  this  steeple  was  repaired  and  a  handsome  gilded 
cross  substituted  the  old  weather  cock  imported  from  Eng- 
land, whose  legs  had  been  shot  off  by  one  of  Tryon's 
soldiers  in  1777.  This  venerable  bird  is  one  of  the  care- 
fully preserved  relics  of  the  parish. 

On  the  interior  the  church,  according  to  the  style  of  the 
period,  was  furnished  with  square  high  backed  pews,  with 
seats  on  their  four  sides,  obliging  some  of  the  occupants  to 
sit  with  their  backs  to  the  minister. 

It  was  in  this  year  that  the  bullet  (still  preserved)  was 
fired  by  "rebel"  soldiers,  at  the  Rev.  John  Beach  while 
he  was  preaching,  lodging  in  the  sounding  board  just  over 
his  head.  The  venerable  preacher's  composure  is  shown  by 


—54— 

the  way  he  addressed  his  congregation  as  they  were  about 
to  rush  from  the  church  in  consternation.  "Don't  be 
alarmed,  brethren,"  he  said.  "Fear  not  them  that  kill  the 
body,  but  are  not  able  to  kill  the  soul ;  but  rather  fear  him 
which  is  able  to  destroy  both  soul  and  body  in  hell." 

During   the   next   eighty-three   years   nothing   of   great 
importance  happened. 


St.  Peter's  Church,  Hebron 

1735- 

TO  understand  the  local  situation  at  the  time  this  parish 
of  the  Church  of  England  was  formed,  it  is  necessary 
to  go  back  still  earlier  in  the  history  of  the  town,  and  if 
I  mistake  not,  we  shall  find  reasons  leading  to  this  almost 
revolutionary  action  of  our  ancestors,  which  date  years 
before  its  actual  occurrence. 

The  town  was  first  settled  in  1704,  and  as  usual  in  New 
England  communities,  among  the  first  things  was  making 
provision  for  a  church  and  school.  The  progress  of  the 
settlement  of  the  town  was  remarkably  slow,  owing  to  diffi- 
culties arising  from  rival  claimants  to  the  land  and  the  conse- 
quent difficulty  in  getting  titles  that  were  unquestionably 
sound.  A  petition  to  the  General  Court  in  1708  recites  that 
there  were  but  nine  families  in  town,  and  another  in  1712 
complains  that  then  the  families  were  few  and  scattering. 

Nevertheless  the  town,  in  1712,  appointed  a  committee  to 
procure  a  regular  minister,  and  occasional  preaching  had 
been  enjoyed  earlier  than  this,  though  the  General  Court 
did  not  authorize  them  "to  gather  a  church  and  ordain  an 
orthodox  minister  amongst  them"  till  October,  1716.  But 
when  the  location  of  the  meeting-house  for  the  town  came 


—55— 

up  for  decision,  then  arose  the  beginning  of  the  factional 
war  which  continued  for  thirty  years  or  more  and  resulted 
in  a  division  of  the  town  into  four  religious  societies  of  the 
standing  order,  and  the  organization  of  a  parish  of  the 
Church  of  England  whose  early  history  is  the  subject  of 
this  sketch. 

The  Rev.  John  Bliss,  Yale  1710,  was  ordained  minister 
of  the  town  of  Hebron,  November  igth,  1717,  and  evidently 
sympathized  with  those  who  wished  the  location  of  the  town's 
meeting-house  changed,  known  as  the  "Northern  Party." 
Says  an  early  historian,  despairing  of  being  able  to  reconcile 
the  differences,  he  resigned  his  charge  and  was  dismissed 
by  council  in  1734.  He  had  been  accused  by  his  enemies 
of  sundry  immoralities,  chiefly  intemperance,  but  was 
acquitted  of  the  charges  by  the  Hartford  County  South  Con- 
sociation which  met  in  Hebron,  November  i6th,  1731.  How 
far  this  cause  contributed  towards  his  final  dismissal  it  is 
impossible  at  this  date  to  determine.  His  friends,  chiefly 
of  the  Northern  Party,  adhered  to  him  and  met  at  his  house 
for  religious  services,  claiming  that  the  action  of  the  council 
in  dismissing  him  was  illegal  and  that  he  was  consequently 
the  only  regularly  ordained  minister  in  town,  in  fact  his 
successor  was  not  ordained  until  December  i6th,  1735.  This 
holding  of  schismatic  services  was  not  to  be  tolerated  by  the 
town  authorities,  and  Mr.  Bliss  and  five  of  his  most  promi- 
nent supporters  were  presented  before  Hartford  County 
court,  June  I7th,  1735,  charged  with  having  "carried  on 
divine  worship  contrary  to  the  statutes  of  this  Colony." 
They  were  found  not  guilty,  but  the  costs  of  court  were 
taxed  against  them,  amounting  to  about  five  pounds  to  each 
person.  They  appeared  before  the  General  Court,  1735, 
for  redress,  and  one-half  the  costs  were  remitted. 

I  have  been  somewhat  lengthy,  perhaps,  in  relating  these 
occurrences,  but  it  seems  necessary  in  order  to  understand 
the  causes  that  lead  up  to  the  organization  of  this  ancient 


-56- 

parish  of  the  Church  of  England,  the  sixth  one  in  the  colony 
according  to  Dr.  Beardsley. 

There  was  now  but  one  thing  for  Mr.  Bliss  and  his  friends 
to  do,  to  put  themselves  under  the  protection  of  the  Church 
of  England,  and  tradition  says  they  did  this  in  1734,  but 
it  is  hardly  probable  that  it  was  done  until  1735,  for  had  it 
been  done  in  1734  they  would  not  have  been  prosecuted  for 
holding  schismatic  meetings  then.  It  cannot  be  supposed 
that  all  were  influenced  by  the  desire  to  have  their  own  way, 
contrary  to  the  wishes  of  a  majority  of  their  neighbors ;  but 
as  many  of  them  were  born  in  England  it  is  very  likely 
that  such  were  influenced  by  genuine  love  for  the  Church  in 
which  they  were  educated. 

Here  then,  was  the  beginning  of  St.  Peter's  parish,  how 
formally  organized  at  that  time  we  know  not,  but  tradition 
says  they  put  themselves  under  the  care  of  the  Rev.  Samuel 
Seabury,  missionary  of  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of 
the  Gospel  at  New  London.  He  writes  home  to  the  Society 
August  nth,  1736,  that  his  success  was  "something  remark- 
able at  Hebron,"  where  he  visited  June  2Oth,  of  that  year, 
and  that  there  were  twenty  families  who  professed  adher- 
ence to  the  Church  of  England. 

The  church  building  was  begun  in  1735  upon  land  deeded 
to  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  by  Mr. 
Bliss  himself,  but  it  was  many  years  before  it  was  thor- 
oughly finished,  in  fact  it  was  in  1766  that  the  missionary 
reported  it  finally  completed. 

In  1738  a  petition  was  preferred  to  the  General  Court  in 
behalf  of  the  members  of  the  Church  of  England  throughout 
tb.2  colony,  and  thirty-two  names  from  Hebron  are  found 
among  the  signers,  representing  themselves  as  "under  the 
pastoral  care  of  the  Reverend  Mr.  Samuel  Seabury  of  New 
London."  Mr.  Bliss  continued  to  read  services  as  a  lay 
reader  under  Seabury's  supervision  for  several  years  and 
died  on  the  eve  of  his  departure  for  England  to  receive 
Episcopal  ordination,  February  ist,  1741-42. 


—57— 

In  1743  Mr.  Seabury  reports  to  the  Society  for  the  Propa- 
gation of  the  Gospel  that  "the  prospect  at  Hebron  was  not 
so  good  as  formrly,  because  the  followers  of  Mr.  White- 
field  do  extremely  abound  there." 

In  1746  the  care  of  the  parish  appears  to  be  in  the  hands 
of  Rev.  Mr.  Punderson  of  North  Groton,  who  visited  them 
twice  a  year  and  reports  forty  communicants,  and  six  bap- 
tisms during  the  year,  also  that  the  parish  had  "purchased 
thirty  acres  of  exceedingly  good  land  for  a  glebe." 

In  1748  Rev.  Mathew  Graves  reports  having  spent  a 
fortnight  at  Hebron,  preaching  nine  sermons,  etc.,  and  in 
1751  he  writes  that  "Mr.  Thompson,  a  man  of  great  estate, 
will  give  a  glebe  of  twelve  acres  of  good  land  and  build  a 
house  for  a  minister." 

These  offers  of  land  for  the  support  of  the  ministry  indi- 
cated their  strong  desire  for  a  settled  clergyman,  but  still 
more  significant  was  the  fact  that  they  sent  four  candidates 
to  England  to  receive  Holy  Orders,  before  they  succeeded. 
Barzillai  Dean,  Yale  1737,  was  ordained  in  1745,  but  the 
ship  was  lost  at  sea  on  the  return  voyage.  Jonathan  Colton, 
ordained  1752,  and  died  of  smallpox  on  shipboard.  James 
Usher,  sailed  for  England  in  1757,  the  ship  was  captured  by 
the  French  and  he  died  in  captivity.  A  Mr.  Fairweather, 
of  Boston,  went  to  England  soon  after  and  was  ordained, 
but  returning  by  way  of  the  West  Indies,  died  there. 

But  the  church  still  persisted  in  their  efforts,  though 
regarded  as  no  better  than  madmen  by  their  neighbors, 
who  looked  at  these  repeated  failures  as  demonstrations  of 
divine  interposition  to  prevent  the  growth  of  prelacy  in  this 
western  land.  At  last,  hearing  that  their  townsman,  Samuel 
A.  Peters,  Yale  1757,  then  a  tutor  in  a  New  York  College, 
had  decided  to  take  Holy  Orders,  they  elected  him  as  their 
Rector.  He  sailed  to  England  in  1758,  was  ordained  Dea- 
con March  nth,  1759,  and  advanced  to  the  priesthood 
August  5th,  of  the  same  year.  After  a  serious  illness  in 


-58- 

England  he  returned  and  took  charge  of  the  parish  in  1760. 
Financial  aid  was  given  them  by  the  Society  for  the  Propa- 
gation of  the  Gospel  and  a  church  library  sent  them,  rem- 
nants of  which  remain  to  this  day. 

Peters  writes  to  England,  April  I3th,  1761,  returning 
thanks  from  his  people  for  the  care  of  the  Society,  and  for 
the  books,  and  reports  that  the  church  building,  58  by  30, 
is  repaired  in  part.  December  27th,  1764,  he  writes  that 
ninety  pounds  are  subscribed  to  finish  the  inside  of  the  build- 
ing, which  now  only  needs  plastering  and  is  to  be  done  in 
the  spring.  May  I2th,  1766,  he  writes  that  the  church  is 
finally  completed  by  help  received  from  a  legacy  given 
by  will  of  Mrs.  Cursell,  of  Boston  some  years  before,  the 
existence  of  which  had  been  lately  discovered,  and  notes 
.that  eight  of  his  flock  have  been  lately  prosecuted  and  fined 
for  working  upon  the  fast  day  appointed  by  the  civil 
authority  during  Easter  week. 

As  events  occurred  foreshadowing  the  War  of  the  Revo- 
lution, we  can  easily  imagine  that  the  situation  of  this  old 
parish  became  less  pleasant,  for  Peters,  their  Rector,  was 
a  pronounced  loyalist,  and  doubtless  many  of  his  flock 
sympathized  with  him.  In  those  troublous  times  all  our 
ancestors  were  men  of  stern  convictions  who  never  allowed 
comfort  or  convenience  to  interfere  with  their  principles. 
At  last,  after  several  visits  from  the  "Sons  of  Liberty," 
who  threatened  vengeance  on  him  for  his  loyalty,  Rev.  Mr. 
Peters  left  the  colony  in  the  early  fall  of  1774  and  fled  to 
England,  leaving  the  church  without  a  rector. 

The  history  of  their  struggle  for  existence  during  the  War 
of  the  Revolution  is  a  sealed  book,  no  records  remain,  tradi- 
tion even  is  silent,  but  that  they  did  exist  is  only  known 
by  their  existence  to-day — the  old  parish  of  St.  Peter's, 
Hebron,  a  sketch  of  whose  colonial  history  I  have  the  honor 
to  present. 


REV.   HENRY   CANER,    D.D. 
Ordained  1727. 


—59— 

St.  Paul's,  Norwalk 

'757- 

ST.  PAUL'S  parish,  Norwalk,  has  an  existence  which 
dates  back  to  1737.  The  first  steps  to  form  a  parish 
here  were  taken  by  Rev.  Henry  Caner,  a  Yale  graduate  of 
1724,  who  held  occasional  services  in  private  houses,  but 
it  was  not  until  several  years  later  that  the  parish  was 
regularly  organized  and  a  church  built. 

In  1737  services  were  regularly  held  under  the  direction 
of  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  For- 
eign Parts,  which  sent  over  from  England  books  for  "ye 
use  of  ye  Missionary  in  Norwalk"  that  are  still  preserved. 

For  over  forty  years  the  sturdy  little  parish  steadily  grew 
and  prospered,  but,  like  all  else  in  these  old  New  England 
states,  it  then  fell  under  the  shadow  of  the  mighty  struggle 
for  liberty.  Then  it  came  to  pass,  that  on  a  fatal  day  in 
the  year  1779,  the  British  General  Tryon  sat  in  his  chair  on 
Grummon's  hill  and  complacently  watched  his  troops  burn 
Norwalk,  watched  the  flames  as  they  greedily  lapped  up 
dwelling  after  dwelling,  until  finally  they  reached  that 
sanctuary  which  had  so  often  echoed  with  the  voice  of 
loyal  worshippers,  and  laid  it  in  ashes.  The  Rev.  Dr. 
Learning,  who  was  then  the  missionary  in  charge,  suffered 
grievously  at  the  hands  of  both  English  and  Americans,  and, 
beside  being  left  destitute  and  homeless,  he  was  lamed  for 
life  and  driven  to  flee  to  New  York. 

In  1780  the  people,  although  "impoverished  and  scattered 
by  this  disaster,  and  the  removal  of  their  pastor,  with  a  rare 
but  characteristic  devotion  to  the  cause  of  religion,  while 
their  own  dwellings  may  be  said  to  have  been  smoking  in 
ruins,  constructed  a  temporary  place  of  worship,  and  in 
1785,  rebuilt  upon  the  former  foundation."  This  church 


was  the  first  one  consecrated  by  Bishop  Seabury,  and  there- 
fore the  first  one  consecrated  not  only  in  our  Diocese  but 
in  all  the  United  States. 

Dr.  Smith,  one  of  Dr.  Learning's  successors,  wrote  the 
Institution  Office,  the  only  one  in  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer  that  can  be  denominated  an  office  of  the  American 
Church. 

One  of  the  most  illustrious  of  the  Rectors  of  this  historical 
old  parish  was  the  distinguished  Jackson  Kemper,  D.D.,  the 
first  missionary  Bishop  of  America,  and  who  resigned  his 
charge  in  Norwalk  to  become  the  pioneer  of  church  work  in 
the  northwest  (1835).  He  now  sleeps  beneath  a  granite 
shaft  in  the  shadow  of  the  old  church  he  loved  so  well. 

From  what  was  originally  St.  Paul's  parish  there  have 
been  set  off  five  distinct  parishes:  St.  Matthew's,  Wilton; 
St.  Mark's,  New  Canaan ;  Church  of  the  Holy  Trinity  and 
Christ  Church,  Westport ;  and  Trinity  Church,  South  Nor- 
walk. 

In  1840  the  corner-stone  of  the  present  building  was  laid 
on  the  ancient  site,  and,  to-day,  the  venerable  church  still 
stands  in  the  midst  of  the  graves  of  its  beloved  departed, 
hallowed  by  the  memory  of  many  noble  souls  and  self- 
sacrificing  deeds  which  are  not  forgotten  on  earth  and  are 
surely  remembered  in  Heaven. 


REV.    RICHARD    MANSFIELD,    D.D. 
Rector  of  St.  James's  Parish,  Derby,  Conn. 

1748-1820. 


—61- 
St.  James's  Parish,  Derby 

1737- 

TO  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in 
Foreign  Parts  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Derby  owes 
its  origin.  The  parish  was  established  in  1737,  under  the 
leadership  of  the  Rev.  Jonathan  Arnold,  who  began  the  erec- 
tion of  a  church,  but  before  its  completion  left  Derby  to 
take  charge  of  another  parish.  He  was  succeeded  by  the 
Rev.  Theophilus  Morris,  who,  after  a  period  of  service  of 
less  than  two  years,  tired  of  his  charge  and  returned  to 
England.  Then  the  Rev.  James  Lyons  came  from  England 
to  take  charge  of  the  parish,  but  after  a  short  time  he  was 
transferred  to  another. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Richard  Mansfield  was  the  next  clergyman 
in  Derby,  and  the  parish  was  then  called  Christ's  Church, 
it  being  the  custom  to  so  call  all  churches  at  that  time, 
that  had  not  been  consecrated  by  any  other  name.  Dr. 
Mansfield  was  born  in  New  Haven,  1724.  His  parents  were 
Congregationalists,  and  he,  therefore,  was  educated  in  the 
faith  of  his  parents.  He  graduated  from  Yale  College  in 
1741,  but  remained  there  two  years  after  his  graduation.  It 
was  during  these  two  years  that  he  became  an  Episcopalian. 
Dr.  Mansfield  was  the  Dean's  Scholar  at  Yale,  and  this  uni- 
versity conferred  on  him  the  honorary  title  of  D.D.,  he 
being  the  first  Episcopal  clergyman  to  receive  this  title 
from  Yale  University.  In  1748  Dr.  Mansfield  went  to 
England  and  was  ordained  on  August  7th  of  that  year,  in 
London.  His  first  charge  was  Derby,  with  which  several 
other  towns  were  connected.  His  life  was  not  an  easy  one, 
in  fact  so  many  dangers  beset  a  clergyman  in  those  days 
that  when  he  went  to  England  to  receive  Holy  Orders,  his 
sister  prayed  that  he  might  be  lost  at  sea. 


—62— 

Dr.  Mansfield  had  as  his  assistants  the  Rev.  Edward 
Blakeslee  and  the  Rev.  Calvin  White,  the  latter  of  whom 
was  one  of  the  first  converts  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
when  it  was  established  in  Derby. 

Dr.  Mansfield  had  charge  of  this  parish  for  seventy-two 
consecutive  years,  from  1748  to  1820.  He  died  in  Derby, 
April  12,  1820,  aged  ninety-six  years.  There  is  a  tablet  in 
St.  James's  Church  to  his  memory,  bearing  this  inscription : 

To  the  glory  of  God  and  in 

memory  of 

Richard  Mansfield,  D.D., 
Born  in  New  Haven,  1724, 
Graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1741. 
Ordained  Priest  by  the  Archbishop  of 

Canterbury  Aug.  7th,   1748. 

Placed  in  charge  of  this  Parish  by  the 

Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the 

Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts 

in  1748. 

Continued 

Rector  of  the  Parish  for 
72  years,  and  until  his  death, 
which  occurred  in  Derby,  April  12,  1820. 
Age  96  years. 

Since  Dr.  Mansfield  there  have  been  fourteen  Rectors,  the 
present  Rector  being  the  fourteenth  in  succession. 

The  first  church  edifice  in  Derby  was  commenced  in  1738, 
and  complete  in  1746,  taking  nine  years  to  build. 

On  September  21,  1746,  a  Convocation  of  the  Clergy  of 
Connecticut  was  held,  at  which  time  Bishop  Seabury 
admitted  four  candidates  to  the  Diaconate,  and  also  delivered 
his  second  and  last  charge  to  the  Clergy  of  Connecticut,  and 
set  forth  his  Communion  Office,  which  is  substantially  the 
office  which  we  now  have  in  our  Book  of  Common  Prayer. 

On  June  7th,  1797,  the  annual  convention  of  the  Clergy 
of  Connecticut  was  held,  at  which  time  the  Rev.  Abraham 
Jarvis  was  elected  Bishop. 


-63- 

The  second  church  edifice  was  consecrated  as  St.  James's 
Church  by  Bishop  Jarvis,  November  20,  1799.  At  this  time 
a  Convocation  of  the  Clergy  was  held,  at  which  the  Office 
of  Institution  was  set  forth,  and  it  was  presently  used  for 
the  first  time  in  this  church. 

The  present  church  edifice  was  consecrated  on  April  u, 
1843,  as  St.  James's  Church,  by  the  Rt.  Rev.  T.  C.  Brownell. 

At  Derby  (now  in  Ansonia),  Conn.,  the  house  is  still 
standing  which  was  bought  for  the  use  of  a  Rector  in  1747, 
and  was  the  home  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Mansfield  during  his  long 
life  in  Derby. 


St.  Stephen's  Church,  Ridgefield 

1739- 

THIS  parish  was  founded  as  a  mission  in  1725,  by  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson  of  Stratford,  Conn.,  who 
often  officiated  until  1727.  With  the  blessing  of  God,  he 
was  instrumental  in  bringing  many  families  into  the  Church. 
His  successors  were  two  brothers,  the  Rev.  Henry  Caner 
of  Fairfield,  and  the  Rev.  Richard  Caner  of  Norwalk.  Their 
ministry  continued  till  1735,  when  the  Rev.  John  Beach  of 
Newtown  became  missionary  in  charge.  This  clergyman 
reported  to  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel 
at  London,  England,  that  he  often  officiated  and  admin- 
istered the  sacraments  in  Ridgefield  where,  in  1735,  there 
were  twenty  families  of  very  serious  and  religious  people, 
who  had  a  just  esteem  of  the  Church  of  England  and 
desired  to  have  the  opportunity  of  worshipping  God  in 
that  way.  Between  1740  and  1776  the  parish  was  in 
charge  of  five  consecutive  priests,  of  whom  the  Rev. 
Epenetus  Townsend  was  the  last.  He  began  his  ministry 


-64- 

in  1768,  and  in  connection  with  the  missions  at  Ridgebury 
in  town  of  Ridgefield,  and  Salem,  N.  Y.  After  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence,  Mr.  Townsend  was  appointed  Chaplain 
to  one  of  the  loyal  battalions  then  stationed  in  New  York 
City,  which  in  1799  was  ordered  to  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia. 
Soon  after  leaving  New  York  a  severe  storm  arose  and  the 
vessel  in  which  he,  his  wife,  and  five  children  had  embarked 
was  foundered  in  Boston  Bay  and  every  soul  on  board  per- 
ished. 

From  1725  till  1776  eight  different  priests  of  the  Church 
of  England  officiated  and  they  were  sent  by  the  Venerable 
Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts. 
Each  of  these  clergymen  received  an  annuity  of  at  least 
twenty  pounds  sterling,  in  addition  to  the  tax  levied  for  his 
support.  This  tax,  as  received  by  the  Rev.  Joseph  Lamson 
in  1744,  was  £40.  us.  ud.  This  sum  seems  to  have  been 
the  annual  ministerial  rate.  During  the  colonial  period  the 
Rev.  Jeremiah  Learning  of  Norwalk  often  served  the  church. 
This  is  the  priest,  who,  at  Stratford,  Conn.,  in  1772,  delivered 
a  sermon  in  commemoration  of  the  acquirements  and  Chris- 
tian character  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson,  the  founder 
of  St.  Stephen's  parish. 

The  first  church  building  was  erected  in  1740  upon  a  site 
which  was  granted  by  the  proprietors  of  the  town,  January 
4th,  1739.  During  the  Revolutionary  War  it  was  taken  by 
a  commissary  of  the  American  Army,  as  a  building  in  which 
to  deposit  the  public  stores.  In  April,  1777,  it  was  set  on 
fire  by  the  British  forces  in  their  retreat  from  Danbury. 
Though  not  consumed,  it  was  rendered  unfit  for  divine 
service.  In  1785,  it  was  voted  to  erect  another  edifice;  but 
so  impoverished  were  the  people  generally,  because  of  the 
war,  that  it  was  not  completed  and  furnished  until  1791. 
In  1820  the  General  Assembly  of  the  State  of  Connecticut 
was  petitioned  to  indemnify  the  parish  for  the  loss  it  sus- 
tained, because  of  the  burning  of  its  former  church  by  the 


ST.  PETER'S  CHURCH,  PLYMOUTH. 

Built  1796. 


-65- 

British.  This  petition  was  based  mainly  on  the  fact  that 
the  building  was  destroyed  because  of  the  use  to  which 
it  was  put  during  the  British  occupancy  of  Ridgefield.  The 
application,  however,  proved  unsuccessful. 

The  new  church  was  not  consecrated  until  1831  and  then 
by  the  name  of  St.  Stephen's  Church.  The  consecrator 
was  the  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  Brownell,  Bishop  of  the  Diocese.  The 
third  and  present  edifice  was  built  on  the  old  site  and  con- 
secrated in  1842.  At  the  organization  of  the  parish  in  1739, 
the  Rev.  James  Wetmore  was  minister  in  charge,  having 
been  appointed  by  the  Venerable  Society. 


St.  Peter's,  Plymouth 

1740. 

THE  principal  recorded  events  of  the  early  history  of 
St.  Peter's  Church,  Plymouth,  are  told  in  one  of  the 
Junior  Auxiliary  Round  Robins,  The  Story  of  a  Hill-top 
Parish,  that  being  part  of  a  sermon  preached  by  Dr.  Hart  on 
the  one  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  consecration  of  the 
present  church  building,  and  to  that  I  am  chiefly  indebted 
for  the  brief  history  contained  in  this  sketch. 

Dr.  Hart  says  that  he  thinks  "there  is  no  other  town  in 
Connecticut  in  which  the  organization  of  'the  professors  of 
the  Church  of  England,'  as  they  were  called,  followed  so 
closely  upon  the  settlement  of  the  place  and  its  organization 
as  a  separate  community." 

The  present  town  of  Plymouth  was  originally  a  part  of 
Waterbury.  In  1737  the  people  of  that  section  were 
"granted  winter  privileges"  and  released  from  parish  taxes 
for  three  months  of  the  year,  that  they  might  "maintain 
the  dispensing  of  the  word  in  a  place  accessable."  Soon 
5 


they  petitioned  the  General  Assembly  of  the  colony  to  make 
them  a  separate  ecclesiastical  society,  representing  that  "to 
reach  the  only  meeting-house  in  the  town,  they  had  to  drive 
seven  miles  or  more,  cross  the  river  nine  times  and  take 
down  bars  or  open  gates  at  ten  different  places." 

In  consequence  of  this,  in  1739  the  Society  called  North- 
bury  (now  Plymouth),  was  set  off.  Very  soon  a  contro- 
versy arose  as  to  the  location  of  the  meeting-house  to  be 
built. 

There  is  not  time  to  go  into  the  details  of  this  dispute 
now,  but  the  result  was  the  organization  in  1740  of  an 
"Episcopal  Society"  consisting  of  eleven  families  under 
the  care  of  the  Rev.  Theophilus  Morris,  a  missionary  of 
the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel.  Although 
this  disagreement  might  seem  an  unfortunate  reason  for 
the  beginning  of  church  life,  it  is  said  other  causes  were 
at  work  which  made  this  "a  readily  accepted  occasion  for 
the  breach." 

Some  of  the  settlers  of  Northbury  were  from  North 
Haven,  where  there  was  already  a  church,  and,  in  one  family 
in  the  community  was  a  Prayer  Book,  which  we  are  told 
had  considerable  influence,  the  members  of  two  other  families 
being  in  the  habit  of  meeting  with  the  owners  of  the  Prayer 
Book  for  the  use  of  its  services.  Tradition  says  the  same 
Prayer  Book  was  afterwards  taken  to  Pennsylvania  and  was 
the  occasion  of  starting  a  parish  there. 

The  year  1740  was  a  time  of  great  religious  excitement, 
during  the  preaching  of  Whitefield,  when  the  teaching  of 
the  Church  was  all  the  more  welcome  to  sober-minded 
people,  and  that  this  had  influence  with  those  who  became 
Churchmen  in  Plymouth,  we  know  from  a  letter  which  they 
addressed  to  the  "Honorable  Society"  in  England,  in  which 
they  say:  "We  were  prejudiced  strongly  against  the  Church 
of  England  from  our  cradles  until  we  had  the  advantage 
of  books  from  your  reverend  missionaries  and  others;  and 


-67- 

Mr.  Whitefield  passing  through  this  land,  and  his  followers 
and  imitators  brought  in  a  flood  of  confusion  amongst  us, 
whereupon  we  fled  to  the  Church  of  England  for  safety." 
Before  the  Revolution,  three  men  of  Connecticut  birth,  who 
are  still  remembered  and  honored  served  the  parish  as  mis- 
sionaries; the  Rev.  Richard  Mansfield,  for  seventy-two 
years  Rector  of  Derby,  Rev.  James  Scovill,  whose  home 
was  in  Waterbury,  and  the  Rev.  James  Nichols,  the  last 
Connecticut  man  to  be  ordained  in  England. 

The  parish  possesses  a  Bible  and  Prayer  Book  bound  in 
one  volume  printed  at  Oxford  in  1738.  Also  another  Prayer 
Book,  in  beautiful,  large  type,  printed  in  London,  1742. 
Both  volumes  bear  the  seal  of  the  Society  for  the  Propaga- 
tion of  the  Gospel  with  the  words  underneath,  "The  Gift 
of  the  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts." 

The  books  will  remain  a  valued  reminder  of  the  debt  the 
parish  owes  to  the  Venerable  Society  through  its  mission- 
aries. 

In  later  years  no  less  than  five  parishes  were  formed  by 
people  who  went  out  from  this  one,  two  being  in  Ohio,  and 
it  may  be  said  that,  "St.  Peter's,  Plymouth,  became  in  a 
sense  of  which  it  can  be  said  of  few  other  country  parishes, 
'a  Mother  of  Churches.'  " 


Christ  Church,  Roxbury 

1740. 

ROXBURY  is  one  of,  if  not  indeed  quite  the  oldest 
parish  within  the  limits  of  Litchfield  County,  dating 
its  organization  as  far  back  as  the  year   1740,  a  period 
earlier  than  that  of  any  other  parish  in  the  county  of  which 
we  have  any  written  records  extant.     It  was  organized  by 
the  Rev.  John  Beach  of  Newtown,  and  for  a  considerable 
time  was  the  only  Episcopal  parish  within  the  limits  of 
Woodbury,  to  which  Roxbury  at  that  time  belonged.     The 
account  of  the  organization  of  the  church  is  specific  and 
interesting.     Thus  recorded:    Captain  Jehiah  Hawley  and 
Mr.  Joseph  Benedict  of  Milford;  Messrs.  Zenas  Ward  and 
David  Squires  of  Southbury ;  James  Masters  of  Woodbury ; 
Messrs.  Ebenezer  Thomas,  Joseph  Weller,  David  and  Isaac 
Castle,  Nathan  Squires  and  Titus  Beach,  agreed  to  form 
themselves  and  their  families  into  an  Episcopal  congrega- 
tion and  to  meet  in  a  private  house  at  Roxbury,  as  being 
the  most  central  place.     Fully  persuaded  in  their  own  minds 
that  God  would  bless  this  undertaking,  the  Church  being 
an  establishment  of  His  own  instituting,  and  having  no 
prospect  of  soon  obtaining  a  person  in  holy  orders   to 
minister  among  them,  they  made  choice  of  Captain  Haw- 
ley  to  be  their  Reader  for  the  ensuing  year.     Zenas  Ward 
and  Daniel  Squires  were  nominated  to  act  as  Wardens. 
Captain  Hawley  was  an  excellent  reader,  a  man  of  unblem- 
ished character,  and  of  clear  understanding  and  of  exem- 
plary purity.     His  Christian  conversation  and  persuasive 
manner  of  gaining  the  doubting  and  of  winning  men  to  the 
Church  who  had  ignorantly  opposed  themselves,  brought 
in  fresh  accessions  to  this  newly  begun  worshipping  assem- 
bly;  and  it  was  not  long  before  they  found  themselves  in 
a  situation  for  building  a  house  for  public  worship.     This 
edifice  was  erected  contiguous  to  the  then  Congregational 


house  of  worship,  on  the  hill  about  a  mile  east  from  the 
present  centre,  which  site  is  soon  to  be  marked  by  a  suit- 
ably inscribed  stone.  The  Rev.  Thomas  Davies,  speaking 
of  this  church  in  a  letter  to  the  Society  in  England  for  the 
Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,  says:  "In 
Roxbury  there  is  a  pretty  church  neatly  finished." 

The  first  clergyman  regularly  connected  with  the  parish  as 
its  stated  minister  was  the  Rev.  Solomon  Palmer  in  1754. 
He  was  one  of  the  first  converts  to  Episcopacy.  He  was 
settled  at  Cornwall,  as  a  Congregational  minister,  some  time 
about  the  year  1742.  After  the  lapse  of  some  ten  years 
from  the  time  of  his  settlement,  and  before  his  people  were 
at  all  aware  of  his  intentions  as  to  the  course  he  was  design- 
ing to  pursue,  he  made  to  them  a  communication  on  a 
Sunday,  informing  them  that  by  investigation  and  reading 
he  had  become  convinced,  and  felt  it  his  duty  to  conform 
to  the  Episcopal  Church.  Obtaining  a  dismission  from 
them  he  went  to  England  and  was  ordained  by  the  Bishop 
of  Bangor,  at  the  request  of  the  Bishop  of  London,  who 
was  then  disabled  by  sickness  from  attending  to  the  duties 
of  his  office.  Some  time  in  the  year  1754  he  was  received 
into  the  service  of  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the 
Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,  and  became  the  Society's  mis- 
sionary, making  his  place  of  residence  in  New  Milford. 
His  mission  included  New  Milford,  where  he  resided,  and 
several  of  the  neighboring  parishes  in  Litchfield  County. 
About  1760  he  resigned  his  mission  and  removed  to  Litch- 
field. Under  his  ministrations  the  parish  of  Roxbury 
increased  somewhat  in  numbers.  The  Rev.  Thomas  Davies 
succeeded  Mr.  Palmer  by  appointment  of  the  same  Society, 
which  appointment  was  communicated  to  him,  and  in  the 
following  words:  Agreed  the  i8th  day  of  September,  1761, 
that  Mr.  Davies  be  appointed  to  the  churches  of  New  Mil- 
ford,  Sharon,  New  Preston,  New  Fairfield,  in  Litchfield 
County.  Litchfield  parish  was  soon  included  in  his  charge, 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Palmer  having  resigned  and  moved  away 


—70— 

in  1762.  The  first  recorded  service  in  Roxbury  by  Mr. 
Davies  was  on  the  25th  of  November,  1763.  On  that  occa- 
sion he  lectured  from  Matthew  ix,  13,  and  as  appears  from 
extant  records  of  his  acts,  kept  by  himself.  By  these  rec- 
ords also  it  appears  that  he  officiated  in  this  parish  one 
Sunday  in  five  until  his  health  gave  out  under  arduous  and 
accumulated  labors.  His  last  recorded  notice  in  the  par- 
ish was  January  I2th,  1766.  He  died  suddenly,  in  the 
bloom  of  life's  usefulness,  at  New  Milford,  where  he  resided, 
on  the  1 2th  of  May,  1766,  where  he  was  buried,  and  a 
tablet  marks  his  resting-place.  He  died  in  the  3Oth  year 
of  his  age  and  the  fifth  of  his  zealous  ministry.  Under  his 
ministrations  the  church  increased  considerably.  His  rec- 
ords show  32  baptisms,  36  communicants,  34  families.  A 
few  Episcopal  families  resided  at  the  centre  of  Woodbury, 
whom  he  occasionally  visited  and  preached  to  in  the  Town 
House,  they  having  at  that  time  no  house  of  worship.  In 
the  year  in  which  Mr.  Davies  died  the  Rev.  Richard  Clark 
took  the  parish  in  charge,  in  connection  with  New  Milford 
and  several  other  neighboring  parishes.  He  continued  to 
officiate  in  the  parish  until  about  the  year  1770,  when  Rev. 
John  Rutgers  Marshall  was  appointed  missionary  to  the 
churches  of  Roxbury  and  New  Milford.  During  his  min- 
istry— the  period  of  the  American  Revolutionary  War — the 
parish  experienced  sundry  vicissitudes  of  trial,  but  being 
a  man  full  of  patience  and  steadfast  in  the  Gospel,  for  the 
space  of  ten  years  he  faithfully  watched  over  the  spiritual 
interests  of  his  mission  field,  from  1771  to  1780.  After  Mr. 
Marshall's  death  the  parish  was  vacant  for  a  number  of  years. 
The  foregoing  was  written  by  the  late  Rev.  Mr.  Cooley 
for  the  Archdeaconry  Record.  The  matter  was  taken  from 
records  then  extant.  These  have  unfortunately  disappeared, 
but  there  are  persons  still  living  in  the  parish  who  have 
seen  them.  Particular  attention  is  called  to  the  founding 
of  the  parish,  1740.  It  was  incorrectly  given  in  some 
accounts  of  its  bicentenary. 


—71- 
St,  Paul's,  Woodbury 

X740- 

AT  the  extreme  southern  part  of  Litchfield  County, 
stretching  out  over  the  beautiful  valley  of  the  Pom- 
peraug  to  the  hills  beyond,  lies  one  of  the  oldest  parishes  in 
Connecticut,  St.  Paul's,  Woodbury. 

It  is  supposed  that  services  were  held  in  the  town  as 
early  as  1722  or  1723,  by  Rev.  Mr.  Pigot  of  Stratford,  and 
Rev.  Dr.  Johnson,  missionaries  of  the  Society  for  the  Propa- 
gation of  the  Gospel.  This  early  date  does  not  seem  strange 
when  we  remember  that  ancient  Woodbury  was  settled  by 
people  from  Stratford  and  it  is  not  at  all  improbable  that 
there  should  have  been  among  the  early  settlers,  members 
of  the  Church  of  England,  or  that  they  should  have  desired 
church  services  held  in  the  town  where  they  were  living. 

In  the  year  1732,  a  Congregational  minister  in  the  south 
part  of  Woodbury,  now  Southbury,  engaged  in  a  contro- 
versy with  the  Rev.  Dr.  Johnson;  that  was  carried  on  for 
some  time.  It  excited  much  inquiry  among  those  who  inves- 
tigated the  question,  and  several  families  were  convinced  by 
Dr.  Johnson's  arguments,  and  were  led  to  connect  them- 
selves with  the  Episcopal  Church.  These  scattered  families 
were  organized  into  a  parish  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Beach  of 
Newtown,  about  the  year  1740. 

The  church  was  built  about  that  time.  Most  of  the 
church  families  living  in  the  south  and  west  part  of  the 
town,  the  church  was  built  on  the  hills  west  of  the  village, 
in  what  is  now  Roxbury,  then  Woodbury ;  the  people  of  the 
valley  going  up  to  the  hill  to  worship — there  being  no  place 
to  hold  service  in  the  center  of  the  town  until  the  year 
1747.  The  Congregational  Society  having  then  (to  quote 
the  words  of  the  clerk,  informing  the  General  Assembly  at 


—72— 

New  Haven)  "set  up  a  meeting-house,  that  for  its  big- 
ness, strength  and  architecture  Does  Appear  Transcendantly 
Magnificent,"  had  no  use  for  the  old  meeting-house  and 
from  that  time  on  it  was  used  as  the  town  hall  and  by  the 
church  people  as  a  place  of  worship  until  the  church  was 
erected  in  1785. 

From  1740  to  1771,  occasional  services  were  held  by  the 
clergymen  of  surrounding  parishes.  These  were  notably  the 
Rev.  Thomas  Davies,  that  noble  young  missionary  who  did 
a  great  work  for  the  Church  in  Litchfield  County;  and 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Clark  of  New  Milford,  with  others.  In  the 
autumn  of  1771,  the  Rev.  John  Rutgers  Marshall  became 
the  first  Rector  of  St.  Paul's,  Woodbury.  Rev.  Mr. 
Marshall  was  born  in  New  York  in  1743,  reared  in  the 
Dutch  Reformed  denomination,  but  came  into  the  Church 
and  prepared  for  the  ministry  under  Dr.  Johnson.  The  Rev. 
Mr.  Marshall  was  the  last  but  one  of  those  candidates 
from  Connecticut  who  went  across  the  ocean  for  Holy 
Orders,  being  ordained  Deacon  by  the  Bishop  of  London, 
July  25,  1771,  and  ordained  Priest  on  the  28th  day  of  the 
same  month.  He  received  from  the  Bishop  a  testimonial 
that  he  had  obtained  "License  and  Authority  to  perform 
the  office  of  a  Minister  or  Priest  at  Woodbury,  or  elsewhere 
within  the  province  of  Connecticut  in  North  America."  On 
his  return  from  England  he  went  to  Woodbury  in  the 
autumn  of  1771,  as  a  missionary  of  the  Society  for  Propagat- 
ing the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,  and  commenced  his  minis- 
try in  St.  Paul's  parish.  The  church  in  the  western  part 
of  the  town  was  united  with  it,  both  churches  together 
constituting  one  parochial  cure. 

We  know  very  little  of  the  first  few  years  of  Mr.  Mar- 
shall's ministry — no  records  of  that  time  existing  at  the 
present  day.  From  a  scrap  of  a  letter,  found  long  ago,  we 
learn  that  a  convention  was  held  in  Woodbury  in  1774.  For 
Mr.  Marshall  in  a  letter  to  his  aunts  in  New  York,  dated 
April  12,  1774,  writes: 


•£.£  S3  3-S"«5 


o    = 


w  _ 

D    ^   -g  •-  6p  »  «  bc.2  ts 


5S 


•S    -u  o  «  « 

^•5=  E-o    • 


.2  v  >  ci-a  c^^- 


. 

-T^-2  P  Ur 

•<  U4->  r<  x 


—73— 

"The  Convention  is  to  be  held  at  my  house  this  spring, 
Aunts  promised  me  some  wine,  if  Aunts  intend  sending  any, 
there  can  be  no  better  opportunity  than  this." 

Soon  after  Mr.  Marshall  came  to  Woodbury  a  glebe  was 
purchased  and  occupied  by  the  Rector,  but  afterwards  he 
bought  a  home  for  himself  and  the  glebe  was  sold,  the  pro- 
ceeds being  used  for  building  the  church.  The  eighteen 
years  of  Mr.  Marshall's  rectorship  were  trying  years  to  the 
country  and  the  Church.  He  was  a  staunch  American  as 
well  as  a  staunch  Churchman,  as  events  afterward  proved. 
At  the  time,  however,  he  was  regarded  with  such  animosity 
by  many  townsmen,  because  of  his  connection  with  the 
Church  of  England,  that  twice  he  was  left  in  the  road 
beaten — so  his  assailants  supposed — to  death.  Tradition 
says  that  the  man  most  instrumental  in  this  affair,  repented 
and  united  himself  with  the  Church.  At  last  Mr.  Marshall 
became  so  suspected  he  could  not  leave  his  house  in  the  day 
time,  except  on  Sunday;  the  old  Puritan  law  forbidding 
arrest  on  the  Sabbath  being  his  protection.  He  would  hold 
service  on  Sunday,  and  on  Monday  the  Committee  of 
Patriots  would  go  to  the  glebe  to  arrest  him,  search  the 
house,  but  could  never  find  him.  Where  he  could  be  hidden 
was  a  great  mystery  to  the  people  who  so  carefully  searched 
for  him.  Years  afterwards  it  became  known  that  the  old 
glebe  contained  a  secret  hiding  place;  a  sliding  panel  in  a 
closet,  moving  so  as  to  afford  direct  entrance  to  the  cellar. 
There  Mr.  Marshall  was  obliged  to  spend  many  days,  leav- 
ing his  hiding  place  only  at  night.  This  entrance  may  be 
seen  now  at  the  glebe  house  in  Woodbury. 

When  the  war  cloud  broke  and  the  colonies  were  severed 
from  England,  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel 
withdrew  its  aid  from  the  parish;  notwithstanding  this, 
Mr.  Marshall  labored  on,  holding  services  in  many  parishes, 
from  Milford  on  the  south  to  Great  Harrington  on  the  north. 

In  1785  the  present  church  was  built,  Mr.  Marshall  fur- 
nishing the  glass  and  nails. 


—74— 

On  March  25,  1783,  a  most  important  meeting  was  held 
at  the  old  glebe  house,  by  ten  of  the  fourteen  clergymen  of 
Connecticut.  "The  meeting  was  kept  a  profound  secret 
even  from  their  most  intimate  friends  of  the  laity." 

No  records  even  of  that  meeting  were  kept,  for  Mr. 
Marshall  well  knew  that  in  holding  that  meeting  he  took 
the  life  of  himself  and  even  of  his  family  in  his  hands.  In 
consequence  of  this  there  is  no  mention  of  it  even  among 
the  family  letters.  The  only  account  we  have  of  it  is  in 
a  letter  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Fogg,  Rector  at  that  time  of  Trinity 
Church,  Brooklyn,  who  was  one  of  the  ten  clergymen 
present. 

The  church  has  not  an  official  record,  but  it  has  the  result 
of  the  meeting;  for  there  was  elected  the  first  Bishop  of 
Connecticut,  and  the  first  Bishop  of  the  Church  in  America, 
Rt.  Rev.  Samuel  Seabury. 

The  church  in  Woodbury  still  treasures  the  first  com- 
munion set,  the  semicircular  table  that  was  used  for  the 
altar,  and  at  the  Marshall  home  in  Woodbury  may  be  seen 
the  first  communion  linen  spun  and  woven  by  Mrs.  Marshall. 
There  also,  may  be  seen  a  chair  in  which  probably  the  presid- 
ing officer  of  the  secret  convention  of  March,  25th,  1783,  sat, 
and  in  which  tradition  says  all  of  the  Bishops  of  Connecticut 
from  Seabury  down,  have  since  sat ;  and  most  interesting  of 
all,  the  Prayer  Book,  used  in  the  church  in  which,  before 
the  Prayer  Book  was  revised  and  the  revision  adopted,  Mr. 
Marshall  made  all  the  alterations  in  use. 

These  alterations  are  in  his  own  handwriting  and  cor- 
respond with  the  accepted  Prayer  Book,  which  would  go 
to  show  he  had  something  to  do  with  the  alterations,  even 
if  he  did  not  originate  them.  He  died  before  the  convention 
which  revised  the  Prayer  Book  was  held. 

Hard  work  and  cruel  treatment  had  undermined  Mr. 
Marshall's  health,  and  in  January,  1789,  he  "laid  down  his 
armor  and  went  to  his  rest." 


KIC1IT   REVEREND   SAMUEL   SEABURY,   D.D.,  LL.D. 

First  Bishop  of  the  American  Church. 
Consecrated  Bishop  of  Connecticut,  Aberdeen,  Scotland,  Nov.  27,  i7f  4. 


—75— 

With  the  death  of  Rev.  John  Rutgers  Marshall  ends  the 
colonial  history  of  St.  Paul's,  Woodbury,  and  the  work  of 
a  faithful  missionary  for  the  Society  of  Propagation  of 
the  Gospel. 


St.  Andrew's,  Simsbury,  and  Parts  Adjacent  (now 
Bloomfield) 

1740. 

AS,  when  we  look  for  the  beginning  of  the  Christian 
year,  we  must  find  on  what  day  of  the  week  falls  the 
Feast  of  St.  Andrew;  so,  when  we  would  know  of  the 
Colonial  Churches  in  the  inland  regions  of  Connecticut,  we 
must  turn,  first,  to  old  St.  Andrew's  earliest  of  them  all. 

Details  as  to  the  formation  of  the  parish  are  meagre,  but 
it  is  believed  that  the  organization  was  effected  in  1740  with 
six  members.  In  1741  the  Rev.  Mr.  Morris  of  Derby,  who 
visited  it,  reported  about  thirty  families,  and  added  that 
they  had  prepared  some  timber  for  a  church. 

In  1742  members  of  the  Church  of  England  in  other 
places  helped  them  to  raise  funds  for  the  purchase  of  a  glebe 
of  fifty  acres,  and  the  land  was  deeded  to  the  infant  parish 
with  the  stipulation  that  it  should  never  be  alienated. 

In  1743  the  church  was  built.  It  is  said  that  it  was  never 
finished;  but,  for  the  remainder  of  the  century,  it  served 
the  congregation,  gathered  from  all  the  region  round  as  a 
place  of  worship. 

The  chosen  site  was  under  the  hills  of  the  Talcott  range 
and  near  the  Tunxis  or  Farmington  river,  which  made  its 
way  over  a  rocky  course  with  a  dull  roar. 

One  wonders  what  the  worthies  engaged  in  hewing  the 
massive  beams  for  the  building  would  have  said  to  any  man 


-76- 

who  had  foretold  that,  in  this  present  year  of  grace,  steam- 
driven  trains  would  pass  the  spot,  and  that  the  neighboring 
river  would  be  made  to  furnish  for  Hartford,  ten  miles  away, 
power  to  propel  its  cars  and  light  its  streets,  to  say  nothing 
of  offering  to  heat  its  houses,  cook  its  food,  and  freeze  its 
ices? 

Giant  oaks  and  chestnuts,  left  from  the  primeval  forest, 
guarded  the  rustic  temple  and  threw  their  broad  shadows 
over  the  green  churchyard  which  still  serves  as  a  "God's 
Acre."  For  more  than  a  century  they  waved  their  branches 
over  the  sacred  spot,  and  then  yielded  to  a  blast  of  the  north 
wind  that  might  not  longer  be  withstood. 
•  Application  had  been  made  to  the  Venerable  Society  for 
the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts  for  assist- 
ance and  promises  had  been  made,  on  condition  of  their 
acquiring  a  glebe. 

In  1744  an  arrangement  was  made  with  Mr.  William 
Gibbs  of  Boston,  a  graduate  of  Harvard,  to  take  charge  of 
the  struggling  parish  and  he  crossed  the  ocean  to  obtain 
Holy  Orders. 

Among  some  letters  to  his  home  friends,  found  last  year 
in  Simsbury,  where  they  had  probably  lain  since  the  settle- 
ment of  his  estate,  is  one  describing  his  voyage  and  telling 
of  his  ordination,  in  which  he  mentions  that  the  Society 
had  made  a  formal  appropriation  for  his  support  and  had 
kindly  added  a  goodly  sum  for  his  expensive  journey. 

He  was  sent  as  Missionary  to  "Simsbury  and  Parts  Adja- 
cent." Each  of  the  ponderous  folios — standard  theological 
works — sent  over  by  the  Society,  as  a  gift  to  the  Mission, 
bears  to-day  that  inscription  with  the  book  plate  of  the 
Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel. 

Now  in  1744,  Simsbury,  which  had  been  quaintly  described 
as  "an  appendix  to  the  town  of  Windsor,"  whence  its  first 
settlers  migrated,  embraced  the  towns  of  Bloomfield,  Canton, 
Avon,  Granby,  and  East  Granby;  and  the  "parts  adjacent" 


—77— 

easily  included  Hartford,  Windsor,  and  Farmington,  not  to 
mention  portions  of  Fair-field  County  as  well  as  of  Berk- 
shire and  Hampden  counties  in  Massachusetts. 

The  territorial  extent  of  the  field  was  indeed  wide,  though 
the  number  of  his  people  could  not  have  been  large. 

The  change  from  Boston  to  a  region  where  fields  were 
more  numerous  than  aught  else  must  have  been  a  marked 
one  for  the  young  clergyman. 

His  sister,  Miss  Elizabeth  Gibbs,  came  to  share  his  home 
and  staid  with  him  to  the  end. 

For  ten  years  he  ministered  to  his  scattered  flock  and 
then,  because  of  his  refusal  to  pay  a  tax  laid  for  the  support 
of  the  Congregational  minister  in  Simsbury,  he  was  arrested 
and  taken  to  Hartford  jail,  thrown  across  a  horse  with 
his  hands  and  feet  so  bound  together  as  to  make  a  human 
girth  for  the  animal. 

His  wardens  paid  the  tax  and  procured  his  release,  but 
he  never  recovered  from  the  nervous  shock,  and  for  the  well- 
nigh  twenty-three  remaining  years  of  his  life,  he  was  mildly 
insane  and  unable  to  officiate.  A  portion  of  his  stipend  was 
continued  by  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel, 
and  till  death  gave  him  release  he  remained  at  his  post. 

He  died  amid  the  stormy  days  of  the  Revolution  and  was 
buried  under  the  chancel  of  the  church  at  whose  altar  he 
had  ministered. 

The  insanity  of  Mr.  Gibbs  made  it  necessary  to  have  an 
assistant  and  Mr.  Roger  Viets,  a  Simsbury  man  and  a  grad- 
uate of  Yale,  after  officiating  as  lay  reader  for  four  years, 
went  in  1763  to  England  and  was  ordained.  Returning, 
he  took  up  the  work  of  the  parish  and  for  twenty-four  years 
went  in  and  out  among  its  people. 

He,  too,  saw  the  inside  of  Hartford  jail,  being  arrested 
on  suspicion  of  aiding  in  the  escape  of  some  Tories  who 
were  confined  in  the  dungeons  of  Newgate.  By  way  of 
emphasizing  the  suspicions  he  was  put  in  irons.  He  was 


-7*- 

doubtless  made  of  sterner  stuff  than  Mr.  Gibbs,  for  he 
eventually  came  out  without  permanent  injury. 

Of  Mr.  Gibbs's  official  acts  no  written  record  remains,  but 
a  portion  of  the  one  kept  by  Mr.  Viets  is  in  existence,  and 
a  perusal  of  it  shows  that  he  made  many  visits  to  the 
"parts  adjacent,"  officiating  frequently  in  Granby,  occasion- 
ally in  Hartford,  where  in  the  Court  House  he  adminis- 
tered the  communion  to  six  or  to  nine  communicants, 
sometimes  in  Westfield,  Springfield,  and  Great  Harrington, 
sometimes  in  Litchfield,  New  Milford,  and  Danbury.  In  all 
these  places  he  evidently  found  children  of  the  Church  who 
gladly  availed  themselves  of  the  opportunity  to  have  their 
children  baptized. 

In  1787  Mr.  Viets  removed  to  Digby,  Nova  Scotia,  and 
it  was  intended  that  his  nephew,  Alexander  Viets  Griswold, 
should  accompany  him.  Something  prevented  and  the 
young  man  remained  to  become  the  first  and  only  Bishop 
of  the  "Eastern  Diocese." 

At  the  time  of  his  departure,  Mr.  Viets  issued  a  "Serious 
Address  and  Farewell  Charge  to  the  Members  of  the  Church 
of  England  in  Simsbury  and  Parts  Adjacent,"  copies  of 
which  are  still  in  existence,  from  which  may  be  gathered 
a  summary  of  his  work.  He  gives  the  number  of  Church 
families  in  the  mission  in  1759  as  75.  In  1787  there  were 
280  "exclusive  of  the  many  that  had  emigrated  and  the  few 
that  had  apostatized."  He  had  baptized  122  adults  and 
1,749  infants,  a  total  of  1871,  giving  an  annual  average  of 
very  nearly  67. 

During  the  ministry  of  Mr.  Viets  a  church  was  built  in 
the  northern  part  of  his  field,  now  North  Granby,  called 
St.  Ann's.  This  was,  later,  given  up,  and  in  its  stead  St. 
Peter's  was  built  at  Salmon  Brook,  somewhat  nearer  the 
mother  church.  Still  later,  this  became  a  separate  parish, 
though  they  were  unable  to  support  two  incumbents,  and  it 
was  generally  under  the  care  of  the  Rector  of  St.  Andrew's, 
until  1845  or  thereabouts. 


—79— 

The  second  St.  Andrew's  was  built  soon  after  the  begin- 
ning of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  was  located  nearly  two 
miles  south  of  the  old  site;  but  after  a  score  or  more  of 
years  it  was  moved  to  its  present  position  only  a  few  yards 
from  the  spot  hallowed  by  the  first  one,  and  where,  like 
that,  it  guards  the  last  resting  place  of  the  generations  of 
Churchmen  "laid  away  in  holy  trust." 

The  earliest  inscription  in  the  churchyard  was  placed 
on  a  tiny  stone  to  mark  the  resting-place  of  "Robin,  son 
of  John,"  a  little  Indian  boy;  and  one  wonders  whether 
John  was  the  earliest  red  child  of  the  Church. 


St.  Paul's,  Wallingford 

1741. 

r  I  ^HE  early  history  of  St.  Paul's  parish,  Wallingford, 
J-  is  closely  connected  with  that  of  St.  John's,  North 
Haven.  Lay  services  were  held  in  the  latter  place  as 
early  as  1723,  and  some  kind  of  an  ecclesiastical  organiza- 
tion was  formed  in  which  "Professors  of  the  Church  of 
England,  inhabiting  in  Wallingford,"  which  then  included 
Cheshire  and  a  part  of  the  present  town  of  Meriden,  had  a 
part. 

In  1740  a  closer  organization  was  brought  about  under 
the  direction  of  the  Rev.  Theophilus  Morris,  missionary  of 
the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign 
Parts,  as  witness  the  following  minutes  : 

"March  ye  2ist,  1740.  At  a  meeting  of  the  members  of 
the  Church  of  England  inhabitating  in  Wallingford  and 
North  Haven,  Rev.  T.  Morris  made  choice  of  Thomas  Ives, 
and  the  parishioners  of  North  Ingham,  as  Church  Wardens" 
and  six  vestry  men  were  selected. 


— 8o— 

"March  ye  2ist,  1740.  At  a  Vestry  held  at  the  house 
of  Mr.  Thomas  Ives,  Voted,  That  the  parishioners  of  Wal- 
lingford  and  North  Haven  be  united  into  one  church,  by 
the  name  of  Union  Church." 

They  soon  built  a  suitable  church-house  in  the  southwest- 
ern portion  of  the  town,  convenient  to  the  members  scat- 
tered over  so  wide  an  area.  Probably  one  reason  for  the 
choice  of  this  location  was  to  place  the  church  on  a  tract  of 
glebe  land  of  about  twelve  acres  that  a  board  of  trustees,  of 
which  the  Rev.  Mr.  Mansfield  of  Derby  was  a  member, 
held  in  trust  for  the  use  of  the  church  in  Wallingford  from 
the  S.  P.  G. 

The  number  of  communicants  is  not  known,  but  in  a 
report  sent  from  Wallingford  to  England  in  1744,  four  years 
after  retirement  of  Mr.  Morris,  the  following  statement 
is  made:  "There  are  twenty-five  masters  of  families,  mem- 
bers of  the  church,  who  in  the  absence  of  a  clergyman,  meet 
together  every  Lord's  day  and  edify  themselves  as  well  as 
they  can  by  reading." 

The  Rev.  James  Lyon  followed  the  Rev.  Mr.  Morris, 
and  the  Rev.  Ebenezer  Punderson  succeeded  him. 

In  1752  the  Rev.  Ichabod  Camp,  a  native  of  Middletown, 
and  a  graduate  of  Yale  College,  who  had  gone  to  England 
for  Holy  Orders,  returned  to  Middletown  and  the  Union 
Church  was  added  to  his  charge.  Under  his  ministrations 
the  church  so  increased  in  numbers  and  strength,  that  it 
was  thought  best  to  make  different  arrangements.  So  the 
Union  Society  was  dissolved  in  1757,  and  the  Wallingford 
parishioners  took  steps  towards  the  formation  of  an  inde- 
pendent organization  and  the  erection  of  a  church  building 
in  the  village.  This  was  finished  in  1762,  and  is  said  to  have 
been  handsome  in  appearance  and  quite  churchly  in  style 
of  architecture  and  in  its  appointments. 

At  first  the  title  by  which  the  Wallingford  parish  was 
designated  was  "The  Old  Society,"  the  name  St.  Paul's 
not  appearing  on  record  till  1765. 


— 8i— 

The  funds  for  the  erection  of  the  church  came  in  part 
from  subscriptions  of  the  parishioners  and  possibly  in  part 
from  the  proceeds  of  the  sale  of  the  glebe  land  in  1765.  It 
was  used  until  1832,  and  we  have  three  mementoes  of  it 
in  our  possession:  one,  a  mahogany  table,  which  served 
as  an  altar :  another  a  Prayer  Book  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, and  the  third  a  silver  chalice  dated  1767,  which  was 
presented  by  Capt.  Titus  Brockett,  then  senior  warden,  and 
which  has  been  in  continuous  use  ever  since. 

There  is  also  in  existence  a  Royal  Coat  of  Arms,  but  it 
was  taken  to  St.  Andrew's,  New  Brunswick,  after  the  Revo- 
lutionary War,  where  it  still  remains. 

The  following  record  is  found : 

"Jan.  29,  1761.  Voted,  That  there  shall  be  preaching 
a  proportionable  part  of  the  time,  according  to  what  they 
pay,  at  the  old  society  in  Wallingford,  Cheshire,  and  North 
Haven."  This  action  probably  had  in  view  the  return  of  the 
Rev.  Samuel  Andrews  of  blessed  memory,  who  had  acted 
as  lay  reader  here,  and  who  at  the  time  was  in  England  to 
receive  Holy  Orders  at  the  hands  of  Dr.  Sherlock,  Bishop 
of  London,  under  whom  were  all  the  colonial  parishes. 

He  was  a  native  of  the  town,  brother  of  the  Junior 
Warden  and  a  graduate  of  Yale.  He  returned  the  follow- 
ing year  as  missionary  of  the  Society  for  the  Propagation 
of  the  Gospel  to  Wallingford,  North  Haven,  and  Cheshire, 
where  he  remained  for  about  twenty-five  years,  an  able, 
faithful,  and  successful  clergyman,  winning  the  warmest 
affections  of  his  people  and  the  honor  and  esteem  of  all  who 
knew  him. 

Being  while  here  a  missionary  of  the  Society  for  the 
Propagation  of  the  Gospel,  he  received  a  stipend  from  that 
source  of  £30  sterling  per  annum.  In  addition  to  this 
the  three  parishes  jointly  stipulated  to  give  him  £50  ster- 
ling per  annum,  a  house,  and  a  glebe  of  fourteen  acres  for 
his  better  accommodation. 
6 


—82— 

Under  his  ministrations  the  Church  in  all  these  places 
grew  exceedingly  and  received  from  his  strong  character, 
his  staunch  churchmanship  and  his  wise  and  abundant 
labors  an  impetus  and  impress  that  long  governed  them. 

We  have  no  means  of  knowing  the  strength  of  the  parish 
at  his  return,  but  eight  years  afterwards  we  find  in  the 
century  discourse  delivered  before  the  people  of  Walling- 
ford  in  1770,  by  Rev.  Mr.  Dana,  pastor  of  the  Congrega- 
tional Church  and  his  own  warm  personal  friend  these 
words : 

"There  are  sixty- three  families  of  Episcopalians  within 
the  original  limits  of  the  Historical  Society:  86  communi- 
cants, and  baptized  (by  Mr.  Andrews),  165.  In  New 
Cheshire,  the  families  are  47,  communicants  64,  baptisms  86. 
In  Meriden  6  families,  14  communicants,  20  baptisms." 

Mr.  Andrews  remained  in  charge  until  after  the  close 
of  the  Revolutionary  War,  when  he  transferred  his  labors 
to  St.  Andrew's,  New  Brunswick,  where  he  died,  honored 
and  lamented,  in  1820. 


St.  John's,  Stamford 

1742. 

THE  first  notice  of  the  Church  of  England  services  in' 
Stamford  was  in  1705,  when  the  Rev.  George  Muir- 
son,  being  inducted  Rector  of  Rye,  made  excursions  east- 
ward into  the  towns  within  the  Connecticut  colony,  being 
licensed  to  minister  to  the  Church  of  England  people  in  the 
towns  of  Greenwich  and  Stamford  by  Lord  Cornbury,  Gov- 
ernor of  the  New  York  Colony,  which  had  been  founded 
three  years  before  by  the  efforts  of  Col.  Caleb  Heathcote 
to  extend  the  Church  in  the  colonies  of  Great  Britain. 


-83- 

Owing  to  the  condition  of  the  country  at  that  time,  it  was 
necessary  for  Mr.  Muirson  to  be  escorted  on  these  ecclesias- 
tical incursions  of  Col.  Heathcote,  "fully  armed."  They 
seem  to  have  had  occasional  ministrations  from  other  clergy- 
men, but  no  settled  minister.  They  felt  a  desire  for  liberty 
of  conscience,  which  the  government  sometimes  hindered 
and  sometimes  helped.  The  Puritans  regarded  this  to  be 
an  unwelcome  intrusion,  but  they  were  received  by  many, 
especially  by  the  more  recent  emigrants. 

In  1742,  the  Episcopalians  made  an  appeal  to  the  town 
for  a  grant  of  land  on  which  to  build  a  church.  As  the 
result  of  this  appeal,  the  town  agreed  to  give  the  professors 
of  the  Church  of  England  "a  piece  of  land  to  set  a  church 
upon."  The  lot  was  to  be  forty-five  feet  long  and  thirty-five 
feet  wide.  The  lot  granted  as  above  was  the  southwest 
corner  of  the  present  lot  held  by  St.  John's  parish,  about 
where  the  transept  of  the  new  church  stands.  "It  was  at 
that  time  a  rude  ledge  of  loose  rock,  bounded  on  the  north 
and  east  by  an  almost  impassable  swamp,"  from  which 
it  would  appear  that  the  town  did  not  much  favor  the  Church 
of  England.  The  Episcopalians,  however,  thanked  the  town 
for  the  omen,  that  they  were  founded  upon  a  rock.  The 
corner-stone  was  laid  in  1743,  and  the  church  was  so  far 
finished  in  1747  that  it  could  be  used.  The  wardens  then 
wrote  to  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in 
London,  asking  it  to  help  them  in  their  effort  to  get  a 
clergyman  of  the  Church  of  England  to  minister  to  them; 
hoping  it  would  look  favorably  on  their  desire  that  Mr. 
Ebenezer  Dibblee,  a  Congregational  minister  from  Dan- 
bury,  who  had  been  lay  reader  one  and  one-half  years,  should 
receive  Holy  Orders  in  England  and  be  sent  by  the  Society 
to  the  Church.  To  go  to  England  in  those  days  was  con- 
sidered extremely  perilous,  as  the  voyage  was  necessarily 
long,  besides  the  many  dangers  that  might  suddenly  arise. 
One  man  sent  out  from  Stamford  was  captured  by  the 


-84— 

French,  imprisoned  by  them  and  finally  died  of  fever  in 
England,  while  another,  had  smallpox  and  also  died.  Mr. 
Dibblee  was  the  third  to  be  sent  out.  He  returned  in  1748, 
and  became  Rector  of  the  church,  holding  that  position 
fifty-one  years.  His  immediate  charge  included  Green- 
wich, Bedford,  New  Canaan,  Darien,  and  Stamford.  He 
was  a  genuine  missionary,  however,  and  made  excursions 
to  Rye,  White  Plains,  Peekskill,  Northcastle,  Salem,  Ridge- 
field,  Danbury,  Norwalk,  Redding,  Newtown,  Huntington, 
and  as  far  north  as  Litchfield,  Sharon,  and  Salisbury.  Much 
of  his  ministry  was  through  the  troublous  times  of  the 
Revolutionary  War,  troublous  especially  to  members  of  the 
Church  of  England,  for  many  of  the  clergy  were  loyal  to 
the  King.  One  incident  is  told  of  a  fearless  Rector,  who 
read  the  prayer  for  the  King's  Majesty  with  the  muskets 
of  American  soldiers  leveled  at  his  head,  having  been  for- 
bidden to  do  so  under  peril  of  his  life.  During  these  days 
came  General  Tryon's  raid  and  there  was  some  fear  of  the 
British  attacking  the  town  of  Stamford;  the  story  has 
come  down  to  me  of  my  great-great-grandmother,  sitting 
on  the  beach  with  her  baby  asleep  on  her  lap,  watching  the 
British  ships  and  waiting  anxiously  to  see  if  they  would 
pass  a  certain  rock,  knowing  if  they  did  so  they  could  not 
land  and  the  town  would  be  safe.  We  know  they  did  "pass 
that  rock,"  going  on  to  Norwalk,  which  they  burned. 

Mr.  Dibblee  was  the  first  member  of  the  College  of  Doc- 
tors or  Council  of  Advice  to  the  Bishop,  and  almost  to  the 
end  he  was  often  in  the  adjoining  towns,  preaching  and 
baptizing. 

From  the  Mother  Church  of  St.  John's  have  grown  the 
parishes  of  Christ  Church,  Greenwich,  with  the  churches  at 
Round  Hill,  Glenville,  Byram,  and  Riverside  in  that  town; 
the  parish  of  St.  Mark's,  New  Canaan ;  St.  Luke's,  Darien ; 
St.  Andrew's,  Stamford,  and  Emmanuel  and  St.  Luke's 
chapels  in  Stamford. 


-85- 

Mr.  St.  George  Talbot,  a  parishioner  and  intimate  friend 
of  Dr.  Dibblee,  came  to  the  colonies  from  England  in  the 
early  part  of  the  century,  and  employed  his  time  and  ample 
fortune  in  laboring  to  promote  the  growth  of  the  Episcopal 
Church.  He  made  a  number  of  trips  to  the  neighboring 
parishes  with  Dr.  Dibblee  when  he  was  one  hundred  years 
old.  He  gave  the  glebe  lands  to  St.  John's,  also  a  "silver 
tankard  and  salver  for  the  use  of  the  Holy  Communion,  to 
be  kept  for  that  use  and  no  other  forever,"  and  they  have 
been  so  kept  and  used  for  a  period  of  one  hundred  and  thirty 
years.  He  contributed  largely  towards  the  completion  of  the 
first  church,  also  the  old  chapel  in  Greenwich  which  stood 
at  the  top  of  "Put's  Hill,"  down  the  steps  of  which  was  the 
famous  ride  of  Gen.  -  Putnam,  when  the  British  troopers 
were  balked  in  their  pursuits. 

The  Lloyd  library,  composed  of  two  hundred  and  fifty 
volumes,  was  presented  about  this  time  to  St.  John's  by 
Henry  Lloyd,  another  benefactor  in  the  last  century. 

Dr.  Dibblee  died  in  1709  and  was  buried  in  the  old  church- 
yard near  St.  Andrew's  Church. 

Three  facts  stand  out  in  the  history  of  St.  John's  parish: 
First,  That  it  is  the  mother  of  many  parishes,  six  daughters 
and  five  grand-daughters;  second,  the  harmony  of  its  life 
has  been  only  once  broken  by  parochial  discord ;  and  third, 
it  has  been  a  parish  of  long  rectorship,  having  had  only 
five  Rectors  in  a  period  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  years. 


—86— 

St.  John's,  Waterbury 
1142. 

WHEN  the  Rev.  Dr.  Benjamin  Trumbull  of  North 
Haven  was  collecting  material  for  his  History  of 
Connecticut  he  wrote  letters  to  various  persons  throughout 
the  state  inquiring  after  certain  historical  facts  which  he 
wished  to  incorporate  in  his  history.  Joseph  Hopkins, 
Esq.,  was  then  the  leading  citizen  of  Waterbury.  He  was 
Judge  of  the  County  Court  and  represented  the  town  for 
many  years  in  the  General  Assembly.  To  him  Dr.  Trum- 
bull wrote,  inquiring  after  the  history  of  the  Episcopal 
Society.  Judge  Hopkins  was  not  an  Episcopalian  and  he 
turned  the  inquiry  over  to  Capt.  John  Welton.  Captain 
Welton  was  one  of  the  leading  men  of  the  town.  For  years 
he  and  Judge  Hopkins  together  had  represented  the  town 
in  the  General  Assembly.  He  was  one  of  the  leading  men 
in  the  Episcopal  Society.  The  letter  which  he  wrote  in 
reply  to  this  inquiry  shows  him  to  have  been  a  man  of 
excellent  judgment  as  to  what  was  essential  in  a  letter  of 
this  sort:  of  remarkable  memory  as  to  facts  and  of  much 
skill  in  their  arrangement.  This  letter  has  been  the  basis  of 
the  history  of  St.  John's  parish  ever  since.  The  parish  was 
first  called  St.  James's  and  did  not  receive  the  name  of  St. 
John  until  1797,  about  two  years  before  this  letter  was 
written.  Two  years  after  the  writing  of  this  letter  Judge 
Hopkins  died.  Perhaps  in  any  event  Capt.  Welton  would 
have  been  called  upon  for  these  data,  but  we  cannot  help 
feeling  that  it  was  fortunate  that  Judge  Hopkins  was  called 
upon  to  select  the  man  and  that  he  selected  Capt.  Welton 
to  reply  to  Dr.  Trumbull's  inquiries. 
The  letter  is  as  follows: 


-87- 

WATERBURY,  March  15,  A.D.  1799. 

Dear  Sir: — The  following  is  the  best  answer  I  can  give  to  your 
questions : 

In  the  year  of  Our  Lord  1732,  I  was  then  about  ten  years  old, 
I  believe  there  was  not  more  than  three  or  four  Churchmen  in  town. 
About  that  time  or  before  there  was  one  Arnold,  I  suppose  an 
itinerant  preacher,  preached  to  them  a  few  times.  What  became  of 
Arnold  I  know  not.  Afterwards  Dr.  Johnson  of  Stratford  and  Mr. 
Beach  of  Newtown  officiated  occasionally  a  few  times  in  Waterbury. 
The  state  of  Episcopacy  was  much  the  same  with  the  addition  of  a 
few  names  until  about  A.D.  1742  or  3  when  a  considerable  number  of 
families  came  over  to  the  Church  and  a  house  for  worship  soon 
after  began  to  be  built. 

In  the  meantime  one  Morris  from  Europe  was  sent  over  by  the 
Society  for  the  Propogation  of  the  Gospel  and  etc.  to  St.  James  of 
Waterbury  and  several  other  Churches,  but  he  soon  returned  to 
Europe.  Morris  was  succeeded  by  one  Lyon,  another  of  the 
Society's  missionaries.  He  was  over  Derby  and  Waterbury,  did 
not  reside  in  Waterbury,  but  officiated  there  about  one-third  of  the 
time,  but  I  believe  in  one  or  two  years  was  removed  to  Long  Island. 

After  Lyon  was  the  Rev.  Dr.  Mansfield.  He  came  into  the  mission 
about  A.D.  1749,  resided  at  Derby  and  officiated  at  Waterbury  one 
third  of  the  time,  until  about  the  year  1758,  when  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Scovil  came  into  the  mission  of  Waterbury  and  New  Cambridge. 
He  resided  in  Waterbury,  officiated  there  one  half  of  the  time  until 
about  1771  when  the  mission  was  divided  and  Mr.  Nichols  took 
New  Cambridge  and  Northbury,  now  Plymouth,  and  left  Waterbury 
and  Woodbury,  now  Watertown,  to  Mr.  Scovil,  where  he  officiated 
until  about  1785,  when  he  removed  to  Nova  Scotia. 

All  the  above  clergymen  received  their  ordination  in  London. 
In  the  year  1792  we  settled  Mr.  Hart.  He  continued  in  the  mission 
until  1795,  then  removed  to  Wallingford.  In  the  year  1797  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Bronson  came  into  our  service:  he  has  since  been  settled 
and  is  now  rector  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Waterbury.  Thus  sir, 
I  have  done  the  best  I  could  to  answer  your  questions  not  having 
many  memorandums  or  records  to  direct  me,  but  I  believe  the 
above  facts  are  stated  nearly  right. 

I  am  Sir  yours  to  serve  and  etc., 

JOHN  WELTON. 

Joseph  Hopkins,  Esq. 

There  is  a  library  in  the  first  Society  in  Waterbury  composed  of 
about  116  volumes,  consisting  of  books  on  Divinity,  History, 


—88— 

Geography,  and  Novels,  and  the  proprietors  have  laid  a  tax  which  is 
also  proposed  to  enlarge  considerably.  Also  one  in  Salem  and  one 
in  Middlebury. 

JOSEPH  HOPKINS. 
Rev.  B.  Trumbull. 

As  this  brings  the  history  of  the  parish  down  to  the 
beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century,  perhaps  nothing  further 
is  necessary  at  this  time.  In  the  History  of  the  Town  and 
City  of  Waterbury,  published  in  1896,  Mr.  Welton's  letter 
is  expanded  and  some  account  is  given  of  the  clergymen 
whose  names  he  mentions ;  the  history  of  the  Church  is  also 
brought  down  to  the  date  of  the  book. 


St.  John's  Church,  New  Milford 

1742. 

Written  by  Rev.  Joseph  Hooper,  by  request. 

NEW  MILFORD  was  one  of  the  earliest  towns  to  be 
settled  within  the  present  county  of  Litchfield.  In 
the  person  of  John  Noble  of  Westfield,  Massachusetts,  it 
received  in  1707  its  first  actual  settler.  In  1712  it  was 
organized  as  a  town  by  twelve  men  of  sterling  character 
and  abundant  energy.  In  religion  they  were  strict  conform- 
ists to  the  polity  and  order  of  the  Congregational  societies 
of  the  colony.  Daniel  Boardman,  who  was  a  young  man  of 
great  promise,  became  its  pastor  soon  after  its  incorporation. 
He  was  faithful  and  beloved,  and  under  him  the  church 
and  society  were  prospered.  He  received,  as  was  the  cus- 
tom of  the  day,  a  large  tract  of  land  as  "a  settlement." 

There  seems  to  have  been  no  attempt  by  members  of  the 
Church  of  England  who  may  have  been  in  the  little  com- 
munity to  separate  themselves,  as  was  allowed  to  "sober  dis- 


—89— 

senters"  by  enabling  acts  of  the  Colonial  legislature.  The 
well-informed  Congregational  minister  of  the  town,  the  Rev. 
Stanley  Griswold,  in  his  "Century  Sermon,"  declares  there 
were  Churchmen  in  the  settlement  in  its  first  period.  It  is 
well  known  that  after  the  conformity  of  John  Beach  to  the 
Church  and  his  settlement  at  Redding  and  Newtown,  his 
missionary  zeal  caused  him  to  extend  his  labors  into  all  the 
surrounding  country.  It  is  known  that. he  officiated  at  a 
marriage  in  New  Mil  ford  in  1739. 

It  is  probable  that  his  visits  to  individuals  and  families 
brought  about  an  informal  organization,  and  the  appoint- 
ment of  one  of  the  small  company  of  Churchmen  to  read 
prayer  and  a  sermon  to  his  associates  on  Sundays. 

It  is  in  1742  that  we  first  find  any  special  notice  of  the 
Churchmen  of  New  Milford  as  a  distinct  and  separate 
congregation. 

A  letter  of  the  Rev.  John  Beach  to  the  Venerable  Society 
from  "Reading  in  New  England,  October  2Oth,  1743,"  men- 
tions his  perplexity  concerning  the  persecution  and  prosecu- 
tion of  members  of  the  "twenty  families  professing  the 
Church  at  New  Milford  and  New  Fairfield,  which  are  about 
fifteen  miles."*  He  speaks  of  preaching  to  them  several 
times  a  year,  but  seldom  on  the  Lord's  Day.  He  says  that 
"they  frequently  come  to  church  at  Newtown,  but  by  reason 
of  the  distance  they  cannot  attend  constantly."  On  other 
Sundays  "they  meet  together  in  their  own  town  and  one  of 
their  number  reads  some  part  of  the  Common  Prayer  and 
a  sermon." 

The  Congregational  Society  were  unwilling  to  release 
them  from  payment  of  the  rate  levied  for  the  minister's 
salary,  and  as  they  had  not  been  formally  certified  to  be 
under  the  pastoral  care  of  Mr.  Beach,  resolved  in  town  meet- 
ing on  February  6,  1743-4  "that  the  Churchmen  shall  be 

*  Hawks  and  Perry's  Connecticut  Church  Documents,  I,  p.  199. 
New  York,  James  Pott  &  Co.,  1863. 


brought  into  the  list  to  make  up  the  minister's  rate  accord- 
ing to  the  directions  of  the  law."  Mr.  Beach  asked  the 
Society  that  he  might  be  accredited  to  New  Milford  and 
New  Fairfield,  thus  relieving  the  Churchmen  from  fine  and 
imprisonment  for  non-payment  of  ministerial  rates.  This 
was,  after  inevitable  delay,  granted  by  the  Society. 

In  the  spring  of  1743  the  town  change  its  attitude  and 
granted  the  petition  of  these  twelve  men  of  honest  and  good 
report  among  their  townsmen : 

HENRY  GARLICK,  DANIEL  PRINDLE, 

THOMAS  NOBLE,  GEORGE  MECUEN, 

JOHN  WELLER,  CHARES  DUNCOMB, 

OBADIAH  WHEELER,  DANIEL  PICKETT,. 

JOHN  PRINDLE,  WILLIAM  HUTCHINS, 

SAMUEL  PRINDLE,  PARTRIDGE  THACHER, 

"to  grant  them  a  piece  of  land  in  the  street,  east  of  Mr. 
Samuel  Prindle's  house  upon  the  hill  near  where  the  old 
pound  used  to  stand,  sixty  feet  in  length  and  forty  feet  in 
breadth,  in  order  to  build  a  Church  of  England  upon  and 
for  no  other  purpose."  The  town  appointed  as  a  committee 
to  lay  out  the  land,  Nathaniel  Bostwick,  David  Noble,  and 
Daniel  Bostwick.  A  small  church  was  built  upon  this  plot 
and  was  well  filled  by  the  fifteen  or  twenty  families  com- 
posing the  congregation. 

Mr.  Beach  speaks  in  1750  of  visiting  three  small  congre- 
gations under  his  care  at  New  Milford  and  New  Fairfield. 
The  work,  however,  was  too  much  for  him,  and  he  sought 
to  be  relieved  from  the  burden  of  all  the  churches  in  the 
upper  part  of  Fairfield  and  all  the  towns  of  Litchfield 
County.  The  Rev.  Solomon  Palmer,  who  had  been  a  Con- 
gregational minister  at  Cornwall  and  conformed  to  the 
Church,  took  charge  of  the  mission  in  1754.  He  was  most 
earnest  and  persistent  and  went  everywhere  in  the  neighbor- 
hood. He  was  the  first  resident  clergyman  and  secured  the 


good  will  of  his  former  co-religionists.  After  five  years 
of  constant  effort  he  reported  in  August,  1760,  that  "the 
Church  here  was  greatly  increased.  It  is  now  in  a  good 
state  and  is  continually  increasing,  for  besides  the  three 
congregations  to  which  I  was  at  first  particularly  appointed 
I  have  three,  viz.,  at  Roxbury,  Cornwall,  Judea." 

Mr.  Palmer's  health  did  not  allow  him  to  continue  in 
this  extensive  missionary  circuit.  In  the  fall  of  1760  he 
resigned  the  charge  of  New  Milford  and  its  vicinity  to  a 
"young  gentleman  who  designed  the  next  spring  to  come 
home  for  orders  with  a  view  to  become  a  teacher  in  these 
parts,  if  the  Society  shall  think  fit  to  divide  this  mission." 
Thomas  Davies  was  then  a  candidate  under  Dr.  Samuel 
Johnson.  He  was  remarkable  for  the  depth  and  fervor  of 
his  religious  convictions,  his  rare  and  persuasive  eloquence 
in  f  the  pulpit,  his  ceaseless  and  well-directed  energy,  and 
his  tact  and  skill  in  laying  foundations.  He  went,  as  Mr. 
Palmer  had  done,  beyond  the  limits  of  the  colony  into 
southern  Berkshire  and  at  Great  Barrington  brought  into 
order  as  a  mission  the  persecuted  Churchmen  of  that  town. 
After  his  ordination,  in  1761,  he  continued  to  grow  in  favor 
with  all  who  knew  him  and  by  his  exertions  the  Church 
both  in  New  Milford  and  other  places  was  strengthened. 
The  church  building  became  too  small,  and  in  1765  the 
frame  of  a  larger  one  was  erected,  which  was  within  a  year 
finished  and  dedicated,  not  consecrated,  for  bishops  had 
been  denied,  largely  on  political  grounds,  to  the  Colonies. 
Mr.  Davies'  life  was  brief  and  brilliant.  He  died  at  his 
home  at  New  Milford  on  May  12,  1766.  His  memory 
should  be  kept  green,  for  he  was  a  skillful  and  wise  master- 
builder  upon  the  foundation  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

The  course  of  Church  life  ran  smoothly  under  his  suc- 
cessor, the  Rev.  Richard  Clarke,  whose  incumbency  of 
twenty  years  included  the  period  when  the  political  horizon 
was  dark  and  lowering,  patriots  asserting  their  independ- 


—92— 

ence,  and  Churchmen  who  were  inclined  to  sympathize  with 
the  mother  country  were  harshly  treated.  His  work  here 
as  parish  priest  ended  in  1787.  He  was  followed  by  the 
Rev.  Truman  Marsh,  whose  work  was  acceptable,  and  con- 
tinued until  the  opening  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

The  parish  of  St.  John's,  New  Milford,  has  shown  in  its 
whole  history  a  commendable  degree  of  activity  and  liberal- 
ity. It  has  realized  its  duty  to  the  Diocese  and  the  whole 
Church,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  besides  providing  for  its 
own  necessities.  From  it  went  forth  under  the  inspiration 
of  Mr.  Palmer  and  Mr.  Davies  a  remarkable  missionary, 
the  Rev.  Gideon  Bostwick,  a  native  of  the  town,  who 
became  lay  reader  and  afterward  missionary  at  St.  James's, 
Great  Harrington,  Massachusetts.  A  sketch  of  his  life 
would  show  that  all  heroic  work  is  not  done  in  foreign 
lands.  He  went  everywhere  through  Berkshire,  southern 
Vermont,  eastern  New  York.  His  ministry  of  twenty-three 
years  was  passed  in  preaching,  baptizing  and  confirming 
the  churches.  He  baptized  more  than  twenty-three  hundred 
children  and  adults  in  his  twenty-three  years  of  active  ser- 
vice, preached  almost  daily  and  established  congregations 
in  many  places,  some  of  which  are  strong  parishes  to-day. 
This  is  but  an  instance  of  the  good  work  done  by  the  Church 
in  Litchfield  County. 


I  he 


* 


o 


PAGES    FROM    THE    PRAYER    BOOK    OF    CHRIST    CHURCH,    GREENWICH, 
SHOWING    ERASURES    OF    PRAYERS    FOR   THE    KING. 


—93— 

Christ  Church,  Guilford 
1744. 

/CHRIST  CHURCH  was  gathered  under  the  blessed 
V_x  influence  of  the  Venerable  Society  that  we  commemo- 
rate this  year,  and  received  ministrations  from  its  mission- 
aries and  laymen  as  a  part  of  their  field  of  labor.  Guilford 
was  never  a  distinct  mission,  nor  received  financial  aid 
directly  from  the  Society. 

Mr.  Samuel  Smithson  came  to  Guilford  about  1707,  and, 
though  a  member  of  the  Church  of  England,  he  worshipped 
here  with  the  Church  of  New  England.  In  the  same  church 
was  a  youth  of  studious  habits,  and  to  him  in  1716,  Mr. 
Smithson  loaned  his  Book  of  Common  Prayer.  This  we 
believe  was  the  means  of  directing  Samuel  Johnson  to  the 
strong  course  of  his  later  life,  and  the  establishment  of  our 
parish.  We  look  back  to  Samuel  Smithson  as,  in  a  real 
sense,  its  founder. 

With  such  a  man  as  Samuel  Johnson,  a  native  of  and 
frequent  visitor  in  Guilford,  it  may  seem  strange  that  a 
church  was  not  gathered  here  earlier ;  but  we  find  a  strong 
desire  on  his  part,  sympathized  with  by  many  of  the  "Dis- 
senting ministers,"  for  a  general  adhesion  to  the  Church  of 
England — a  comprehension  of  the  colonists  under  Episcopal 
government,  but  "without  all  the  ceremonies  and  constitu- 
tions of  our  Church";  and  we  can  easily  believe  Samuel 
Johnson  would  hope  thus  to  be  in  fellowship  with  the  Church 
and  pastor  of  his  boyhood,  rather  than  to  promote  a  separa- 
tion from  them.  The  Guilford  Congregational  Church  had 
also  accepted  the  "half-way  covenant"  whereby  the  sacra- 
ments of  baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper  were  made  acces- 
sible to  many,  who  at  earlier  times  and  in  some  churches 
even  now  had  been  denied  them. 


—94— 

In  1738  three  Guilford  men  were  enrolled  as  members  of 
the  Church  of  England,  under  the  care  of  Mr.  Jonathan 
Arnold  of  New  Haven,  whose  cure  was  virtually  New  Haven 
County,  and  it  is  quite  certain  that  he  ministered  in  Guilford 
that  year.  Mr.  James  Lyons  of  Derby,  and  Dr.  Samuel  John- 
son of  Stratford,  held  services  here  before  there  was  a  parish. 
In  1744  Mr.  Lyons  reported  to  the  Venerable  Society  that 
there  were  eight  families  in  Guilford  who  had  declared  their 
conformity,  and  on  September  4,  1744,  he  organized  this 
parish  at  the  house  of  William  Ward,  Nathaniel  Johnson 
being  "appointed"  warden  and  Samuel  Collins  clerk  to  lead 
or  make  the  responses  and  lead  the  singing.  Until  a  church 
was  built,  services  were  held  in  private  houses,  some  of 
which  are  still  standing.  With  ministrations  from  clergy- 
men, who  included  Guilford  as  part  of  their  charge,  occa- 
sional visits  from  others,  and  the  constant  services  of  faithful 
and  zealous  laymen  the  worship  of  God  and  religious  instruc- 
tion were  maintained  in  the  parish  for  almost  a  century, 
without  a  clergyman  of  its  own. 

In  1746  it  was  decided  to  build,  and  in  1747  the  "Proprie- 
tors of  the  Town"  voted  to  allow  a  church  to  be  built  on 
the  Green.  Some  money  was  given  by  non-residents,  nota- 
bly the  sum  of  ^113,  from  friends  in  Trinity  Church,  New- 
port, R.  I.,  in  response  to  an  appeal  from  Nathaniel  Johnson, 
who  rode  to  Newport  on  horseback  to  make  it!  But  the 
expense  of  building  was  principally  borne  by  the  parish.  Of 
the  missionaries  of  the  Venerable  Society,  and  the  lay- 
readers  who  ministered  to  the  Colonial  Church  in  Guil- 
ford there  is  time  only  to  speak  their  names.  Mr.  Lyons 
of  Derby,  who,  being  with  them  at  the  organization  of 
the  parish  was  regarded  as  their  minister;  Ebenezer  Pun- 
derson — the  first  to  preach  in  their  church  in  May,  1751, 
(though  it  was  not  opened  for  service  till  March,  1751,  when 
Dr.  Samuel  Johnson  preached  from  the  text,  "O  worship 
the  Lord  in  the  beauty  of  holiness")  ;  Samuel  Andrews, 


-95— 

Wallingford — who  was  faithful  in  his  frequent  ministra- 
tions till  his  loyalist  sympathies  limited  his  journeys;  and 
Bela  Hubbard.  Mr.  William  Samuel  Johnson  (son  of  Dr. 
Samuel  Johnson,  who  later  became  the  accomplished  Ameri- 
can statesman),  Mr.  Edmund  Ward,  Peter  Beers,  and  John 
Tyler,  were  lay-readers. 

Of  the  ministers  who  have  been  reared  within  the  terri- 
torial limits  of  "old  Guilford"  at  least  one-third  have  taken 
Episcopal  orders.  Those  most  notable  from  the  Colonial 
Church  were  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson,  Rev.  Bela  Hubbard, 
Rev.  Bethuel  Chittenden,  Rev.  Andrew  Fowler,  and  much 
earlier,  the  two  sons  of  John  Hoadly,  who  after  their 
return  to  England  took  orders  in  the  established  Church. 
One  of  them,  Samuel,  became  the  father  of  two  Bishops — 
John,  who  died  Primate  of  Ireland,  and  Benjamin,  who  was 
a  still  more  distinguished  man. 

Of  these,  Rev.  Bela  Hubbard  was  our  only  resident  min- 
ister in  the  eighteenth  century.  Returning  from  England 
in  1764,  he  came  to  Guilford,  but  not  as  a  missionary  of  the 
Society.  The  one  mark  of  its  favor  which  Mr.  Hubbard 
probably  brought  with  him,  was  the  folio  Prayer  Book  which 
we  have  among  our  interesting  relics.  His  cure  consisted 
of  the  two  Guilford  parishes,  and  that  of  Killingworth  (now 
Clinton). 

The  ministry  of  Bela  Hubbard,  a  native  of  Guilford,  must 
have  more  than  passing  notice.  He  was  lay-reader  for  both 
Guilford  and  North  Guilford  parishes  from  1761  to  1763, 
while  preparing  to  take  orders,  and  was  invited  to  return 
to  them  as  priest.  At  this  time  there  were  fifty  families  of 
the  Guilford  conformists,  and  as  many  communicants — the 
North  parish  probably  being  the  larger. 

When  in  1767  he  took  charge  of  the  mission  in  New 
Haven,  his  Guilford  people  were  heart-broken. 

Repeated  appeals  were  made  to  the  Venerable  Society  for 
the  establishment  of  a  mission  at  Guilford,  but  the  Society 


was  inexorable  and  refused  to  respond — partly  on  the 
ground  that  the  parish  had  no  parsonage  or  glebe. 

Loyalist  sympathies  prevailed  in  this  congregation  to  its 
detriment ;  but  when  the  war  broke  out  some  Episcopalians 
were  found  among  the  patriot  soldiers. 

During  the  war  the  parish  must  have  lost  ground,  and 
it  is  said  the  church  building  suffered  from  lawless  violence. 
But  the  services  on  Sunday  never  ceased ! 

The  lowest  point  of  depression  in  the  life  of  the  parish 
must  have  been  during  the  last  decade  of  the  century,  when, 
tradition  says,  only  two  families  were  left  to  sustain  the 
services  of  the  Church.  But  in  1798  we  find  Dr.  Hubbard 
again  visiting  Guilford,  and  from  that  time  the  church 
seemed  to  revive,  and  in  1806  our  parish  numbered  forty 
families. 

Having  outlined  our  history  to  the  beginning  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  I  must  leave  the  blessed  record  of  the  past 
one  hundred  years  untouched. 


Gilbert  Town,  North  Fairficld  (now  Weston,  J744, 
and  Easton,  J763) 

r  I  "HE  history  of  the  formation  of  this  parish  is  unique. 
-1.  In  a  letter  written  by  the  late  associate  Justice  Brad- 
ley of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court,  addressed  to  a  late 
aged  resident  of  this  vicinity,  he  says,  "How  comes  it,  that 
I  find  that  on  ground  donated  by  my  grandfather  Bradley 
for  the  use  of  a  Congregational  Society,  an  Episcopal  Church 
was  built  and  used  for  many  years  as  a  place  of  worship?" 
This  is  how  it  happened. 

In  1740  the  residents  of  Gilbert  Town,  some  seven  miles 
north  of  the  Mill  Plain  Church  at  Fairfield,  and  about  six 
miles  south  of  Christ  Church,  Redding  Ridge,  desired  to 


—97— 

build  a  convenient  place  of  worship.  At  the  same  time  the 
Congregational  friends  also  wished  for  a  house  of  prayer. 
This  desire  was  so  strong  in  the  Bradley  family  and  neigh- 
bors that  Bradley  gave  about  two  acres  of  land;  others 
near  at  hand  contributed  timber  and  the  foundation  was 
built  and  frame  made  ready  for  the  Congregational  building. 
Then  some  good  Congregational  brethren  at  what  is  called 
Easton  Centre,  two  miles  north  of  Bradley  lot,  called  a  halt ; 
saying,  "Why  place  a  meeting-house  among  a  lot  of  Church 
of  England  folks,  and  leave  us  out  in  the  cold  ?"  It  appears 
that  what  is  now  Easton  Centre  was  the  principal  place  of 
residence  for  Congregationalists,  while  Gilbert  Town  was 
the  home  of  many  Church  of  England  people.  Providence 
in  this  instance  ruled,  for  it  appears  the  officer  of  each 
society  held  a  meeting,  and  an  agreement  was  made  whereby 
the  Bradley  lot  with  its  foundation  and  frame  for  building 
was  transferred  to  the  Church  of  England  Society,  who 
made  some  return  in  cash. 

This  church  at  Gilbert  Town  was  in  the  form  of  a 
Methodist  edifice,  about  square,  without  spire,  tower,  or 
other  external  marks  to  indicate  that  it  was  an  Episcopal 
Church.  It  had  centre  box  pews,  side  aisles,  and  over  hang- 
ing gallery  on  three  sides  with  a  high  pulpit  at  the  west  end 
and  a  chancel.  This  building  was  open  for  worship  accord- 
ing to  the  Church  of  England  form  from  about  1744  until 
1776,  Sunday  services  being  held  by  the  Rector  of  Mill 
Plain.  From  1776  to  1783  services  were  held  irregularly. 
Then  services  were  held  by  Dr.  Shelton  and  other  clergymen, 
which  were  more  regular.  The  parish  records  of  1783  are 
in  the  care  of  the  clerk  of  Christ  Church,  Easton  Centre. 

The  building  of  the  Gilbert  Town  church  was  on  the  High 
road  leading  from  Fairfield  north  to  Danbury,  Newtown, 
and  other,  then  important,  inland  towns.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  but  that  its  location  was  a  wise  selection,  as  it  was  the 
center  for  miles  around  for  Church  of  England  people.  Its 
1 


-98- 

influence  was  far-reaching.  The  old  burial  ground  just 
north  of  the  church  on  the  east  side  of  the  highway  contains 
tombs  of  some  of  the  founders.  Tryon  on  his  sail  to  Dan- 
bury  slept  within  gun  shot  of  the  church,  but,  as  many  mem- 
bers were  Tories,  he  ordered  the  church  saved  from  fire. 
Thus  from  1744  to  1855  this  building,  consecrated  by  prayer 
and  praise,  was  a  monument  to  the  zeal  and  devotion  of  the 
Church  people  of  Colonial  days  in  this  place. 


St.  Michael's,  Litchfield 

1745- 

IN  the  year  1735,  Mr.  John  Davies  came  to  Litchfield 
from  Winton,  England.  He  was  a  devoted  member 
of  the  English  Church,  but  did  not  find  many  here  who 
agreed  with  him  in  sentiment.  His  wife,  writing  home  to 
her  friends  in  England,  declared  that  "she  was  very  lonely, 
having  no  society  except  that  of  Presbyterians  and  wolves." 
In  1745  Mr.  Davies  found  a  number  of  people,  who, 
owing  to  the  disturbances  arising  from  the  preaching  of 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Whitfield,  were  discontented  with  their 
ecclesiastical  surroundings.  Thirteen  heads  of  families 
met  together  in  the  house  of  Mr.  Jacob  Griswold,  about  a 
mile  west  of  the  village,  to  consult  about  establishing  divine 
service  according  to  the  rites  of  the  Church  of  England. 
It  was  determined  to  build  a  church,  and  this  was  done  in 
1748.  In  the  meantime  services  were  held  in  private 
houses.  The  Rev.  Drs.  Johnson,  Cutler,  and  Beach  all  at 
different  times  visited  the  church  people  and  read  the  ser- 
vice. The  church  was  built  on  the  hill  a  mile  out  of  the 
village,  and  was  used  for  services  until  1810,  when  a  new 
building  was  erected  in  the  village  on  the  site  occupied  by 


the  present  church.  During  the  Revolutionary  War  the 
church  was  closed  for  a  time.  A  body  of  soldiers  in  pas- 
sing it  threw  stones  to  break  in  the  windows,  but  were 
reproved  by  General  Washington,  who  was  with  them,  say- 
ing, "that  is  the  Church  of  which  I  am  a  member." 

In  1754  Mr.  Solomon  Palmer,  a  Congregational  minister 
in  Cornwall,  where  he  had  served  for  thirteen  years,  to  the 
great  surprise  of  his  people  announced  that  he  had  "become 
an  Episcopalian  in  sentiment."  Immediately  after  he  went 
to  England  and  was  ordained  Deacon  and  then  Priest. 
The  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  appointed 
him  Missionary  for  Litchfield,  Cornwall,  and  Great  Barring- 
ton,  Massachusetts.  He  preached  here  till  1763,  when  he 
was  called  to  New  Haven  to  take  charge  of  Trinity  Church. 
At  this  time  the  Rev.  Thomas  Davies,  a  grandson  of  Mr. 
John  Davies,  who  was  graduated  from  Yale  College  in 
1758,  and  in  1761  had  been  ordained  by  Archbishop  Seeker, 
was  appointed  to  succeed  Mr.  Palmer  as  Missionary  in 
Litchfield  County.  New  Milford  and  Litchfield  were 
where  he  chiefly  labored,  but  he  went  into  almost  all  the 
towns  in  the  county.  He  travelled  on  horseback.  Through 
winter  storms  and  summer  heat  he  executed  the  duties  of 
his  office  wherever  opportunity  offered.  One  of  the  entries 
in  his  private  register  reads,  "officiated  at  Litchfield  on  St. 
Pompion's  Day."  This  was  what  he  called  the  annual 
Thanksgiving  Day,  and  by  pompion  he  meant  what  is  more 
generally  known  as  "pumpkin."  Mr.  Davies's  ministerial 
life  was  a  short  one.  He  died  in  New  Milford,  May  I2th, 
1766.  At  this  time  the  Rev.  Mr.  Palmer  came  back  from 
New  Haven  and  again  took  charge  of  the  work  here  under 
an  appointment  from  the  S.  P.  G.  and  here  his  earthly 
labors  came  to  an  end  in  the  year  1771. 

In  1772  the  Rev.  Mr.  Mosely  was  sent  by  the  Society  as 
Missionary,  but  for  some  reason  there  was  objection  made 
to  receiving  him  and  he  withdrew.  In  consequence  of  this, 


— IOO — 

the  home  Society  refused  the  next  year  to  make  any  appro- 
priation for  Litchfield.  But  through  the  good  offices  of  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Bostwick'  of  Great  Barrington,  the  grant  was 
renewed.  At  some  time  in  its  history  the  mission  received 
a  library  from  the  Venerable  Society,  but  the  books  have 
none  of  them  been  preserved. 

The  only  missionary  in  charge  here  during  the  Revolu- 
tionary war  was  the  Rev.  James  Nichols,  a  Yale  graduate 
of  the  year  1771,  who  that  same  year  went  to  England  for 
ordination.  He  resigned  his  charge  in  1784.  At  that  time 
a  parish  was  organized  under  the  laws  of  the  State.  The 
first  Rector  was  Ashbel  Baldwin,  who  was  the  first  clergy- 
man to  receive  Episcopal  ordination  at  Bishop  Seabury's 
hands.  This  event  occurred  at  Middletown,  Aug.  3d,  1785. 
This  parish  was  named  St.  Michael's,  at  the  request  of  Mr. 
Davies,  who  gave  fifty  acres  of  land  for  the  support  of  the 
Missionary  on  condition  that  if  lawfully  demanded  by  him- 
self or  his  heirs  one  pepper-corn  should  be  paid  by  way 
of  rent  on  the  Feast  of  St.  Michael  and  All  Angels.  The 
last  time  this  rent  was  offered  was  on  the  one  hundred 
and  fiftieth  anniversary.  At  this  time  the  Rev.  Thomas  F. 
Davies,  Jr.,  now  Rector  of  Christ  Church,  Norwich,  son 
of  Bishop  Davies  of  Michigan  and  descendant  of  John 
Davies,  assisted  in  the  service.  To  him  the  rent  was  offered 
and  declined. 


— 101 


Christ  Church,  Norwich 

1731-1747- 

WHILE  it  is  certain  that  there  were  earnest  Church- 
men among  the  residents  here,  during  the  first 
years  of  the  eighteenth  century,  historians  agree  that  the 
early  history  of  the  Church  is  obscure  and  "Tradition  is 
the  only  source  from  which  anything  has  been  ascertained 
respecting  the  first  rise  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in 
Norwich." 

Among  the  names  of  "Inhabitants  allowed"  are  found 
those  of  Thomas  Grist  and  Edmund  Gookin  as  early  as 
1726,  and  it  is  more  than  probable  that  there  were  gatherings 
of  Churchmen  before  1731,  the  earliest  date  at  which  we 
have  any  record  of  Church  services,  which,  it  states,  were 
held  regularly  three  times  a  year. 

At  these  services  the  Rev.  Samuel  Seabury  of  New 
London  officiated  until  1734,  when  he  was  succeeded  by 
the  Rev.  Ebenezer  Punderson.  Mr.  Brown  says:  "It  is 
a  singular  coincidence  that  the  clergyman  who  followed  the 
Rev.  Samuel  Seabury  in  ministering  to  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, in  Norwich,  was  the  same  man  who,  as  a  Congrega- 
tional minister  succeeded  Mr.  Seabury  in  charge  of  the 
Second  Ecclesiastical  Society  of  North  Groton,  and  who 
subsequently  pursued  the  identical  course  of  Mr.  Seabury, 
in  resigning  the  charge  of  that  Society,  to  sail  to  England 
for  Holy  Orders." 

From  an  extract  of  a  sermon  preached  in  Christ  Church 
Sept.  n,  1859,  is  called  the  following: 

"Norwich  was  settled  in  1659  by  Puritan  pioneers. 
Puritanism  grew  and  flourished,  without  stint  or  abate- 
ment for  nearly  eighty  years,  when  Episcopacy  came,  shot 
into  its  midst  by  the  English  Society  for  the  Propagation 
of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts." 


— IO2 — 

"A  missionary  named  Punderson,  an  earnest  indefatig- 
able man,  duly  ordained  in  the  Church  of  England,  arrived 
in  this  region,  sent  and  sustained  by  the  same  missionary 
spirit  which  now  sends  workers  to  other  shores,  and  estab- 
lished the  beginnings  of  a  parish." 

Despite  the  fact  that  Norwich  was  but  one  of  the  many 
charges  of  this  energetic  man,  his  work  was  blessed,  and 
in  the  winter  of  1746-47,  we  find  a  record  of  a  meeting  to 
consider  the  building  of  a  suitable  house  of  worship  and 
the  names  of  eighty-seven  subscribers  affixed. 

It  was  nearly  three  years  before  this  structure  was  com- 
pleted, small,  plain,  and  unplastered,  as  it  was. 

This  edifice  stood  upon  the  site  now  occupied  by  our 
present  beautiful  Christ  Church. 

Mr.  Punderson  became  its  first  clergyman,  ministering 
to  its  people  in  rotation  with  those  of  his  other  charges  until 
1751,  when  he  was  transferred  to  New  Haven. 

For  eleven  years  after  Mr.  Punderson's  departure  the 
parish  had  no  regularly  officiating  clergyman,  but  the 
Church  was  not  forsaken.  A  lay  reader  furnished  the  old, 
familiar,  much  loved  prayers  and  occasionally  Mr.  Seabury 
and  his  successor,  Mr.  Graves  of  New  London,  ministered 
to  the  little  flock. 

In  1760  a  subscription  was  raised  towards  defraying  the 
expenses  of  Mr.  John  Beardsley  to  England  for  Holy 
Orders,  and  an  agreement  entered  into  with  him.  to 
become  their  minister  on  his  return,  for  which  he  was  to 
receive  the  annual  sum  of  33  pounds  towards  his  support. 
He  returned  in  1763,  remaining  about  five  years,  when  he 
was  transferred  to  Poughkeepsie. 

In  1768  a  young  man,  John  Tyler  of  Wallingford,  by 
arrangement  and  contribution  of  the  eighty-six  members 
of  the  parish  went  to  England  for  ordination,  and  entered 
upon  his  duties  the  following  year.  Under  his  ministra- 
tions the  parish  took  on  new  life,  and  the  close  of  the  first 
year  shows  a  record  of  in  families,  with  23  communicants. 


—103— 

St.  John's  Parish,  North  Guilford 

1747- 

THE  historical  material  from  which  this  story  is  com- 
piled is  first  a  record  of  christenings  and  secondly 
a  record  of  parish  meetings. 

In  September,  1747,  under  the  head  of  "A  Register  of  the 
Persons  who  were  christened  according  to  the  Litargy  of 
the  Church  of  England,"  is  a  "christening"  by  the  Rev. 
E.  Punderson. 

From  this  date  until  August,  1752,  there  were  15  persons 
christened  by  him.  From  1752  till  1753  there  were  three 
christenings  by  the  Rev.  Ichabod  Camp.  From  1753  to 
1762  there  were  a  number  of  christenings  by  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Mansfield,  Samuel  Andrews,  and  Rev.  Mr.  Palmer.  Of 
these  christenings,  one  was  of  "Abigal,  daughter  of  Tooley, 
Negro,"  another  is  recorded  as  "Peggy,  Maid  to  Abraham 
Hubbard."  In  1764  Rev.  Bela  Hubbard's  name  appears  for 
the  first  time  and  on  October  7  of  the  same  year  he  christ- 
ened "Chandis,  a  negro  belonging  to  Mr.  E.  Scranton, 
himself  and  wife  being  Sureties."  From  1764  to  1768  we 
find  no  other  names  but  Mr.  Hubbard's,  after  this  date  a 
number  of  clergymen's  names  appear. 

Abraham  Jarvis's  name  appears  for  the  first  time  in  1771 ; 
he  appears  to  have  officiated  at  all  christenings  with  one 
or  two  exceptions,  until  the  year  of  1784.  In  1785  the 
Rev.  James  Say  re  officiated  at  all  christenings.  In  1786 
Rev.  H.  Van  Dyck's,  Abraham  Jarvis's,  and  Ashbel  Bald- 
win's names  are  on  the  record,  and  after  this  date  various 
other  names  appear.  In  1792  we  find  the  word  Baptized 
instead  of  Christenings.  The  Baptismal  Record  is  com- 
plete to  date. 


— IO4 — 

In  1761  a  record  appears  of  a  "Vestry"  held  at  Lieut. 
John  Hubbard's,  at  which  meeting  it  was  voted  that  we 
unite  with  the  church  people  in  the  old  Society  in  employ- 
ing the  Rev.  Bela  Hubbard.  The  above  is  the  first  record 
of  a  meeting  of  any  kind. 

The  first  that  appears  concerning  a  salary  is  in  1784, 
when  it  was  voted  to  "lay  a  tax  of  one  penny,  farthing,  on 
the  pound  to  pay  the  Rev.  Mr.  Jarvis  for  his  Ministerial 
Services  in  the  year  past." 

On  June  14,  1784,  it  was  voted  to  unite  with  the  Episco- 
pal Church  in  Branford  and  old  Guilford  to  "hire  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Sayre  and  to  pay  him  according  to  the  Rateable 
lists  of  our  Estates."  It  was  also  "voted  to  raise  the  sum 
of  twenty  pounds  lawful  money  to  pay  the  Rev.  Mr.  Sayre 
for  his  Ministerial  Services  one-quarter  of  the  time  Sundays 
and  holidays,  for  the  year  ensueing,"  and  December  12  the 
same  year  it  was  "voted  that  we  will  pay  our  rates  as  they 
are  set  in  our  rate  books  and  not  bring  in  our  accounts  for 
work  to  settle  them."  "Voted  that  Mr.  Nehemiah  Gris- 
wold  and  Abraham  Hubbard  be  in  the  immediate  use  of 
means  to  collect  money  due  the  Church  from  Mr.  Daniel 
Chittenden." 

In  1786  it  was  "voted  the  Rev.  James  Sayre  twenty 
pounds  for  his  Ministerial  Services  one  fourth  part  of  his 
time  the  ensueing  year  and  also  some  to  be  paid  quarterly 
in  cash."  Also  "voted  if  the  Rev.  James  Sayre  will  live 
in  Guilford  the  ensueing  year  that  we  will  find  the  half 
keeping  of  one  horse  and  cow  and  half  his  fire  wood  and 
one  quarter  of  his  house  hire."  Many  items  of  the  same 
nature  could  be  given.  There  is  no  record  of  when  the 
first  church  was  built,  but  it  is  recorded  that  it  was  "voted 
to  sell  it"  in  1814  and  to  "lay  out  the  avails  on  the  new 
church."  The  new  church  was  opened  for  services  on  the 
first  Sunday  in  November  of  the  same  year.  The  church 
is  the  same  as  now  used,  with  some  additions  and  altera- 
tions. 


—105— 

As  to  relics  of  the  Parish,  we  have  a  Bible  printed  in 
Oxford,  England,  and  presented  to  the  parish  by  the 
Venerable  Society  in  England  for  the  propagation  of  the 
Gospel  in  foreign  parts. 


St.  John's  Church,  Bridgeport 

1748. 

THE  first  church  built  in  Stratfield   1748.     The  first 
rector   was   the   Rev.    Philo   Shelton,   ordained   by 
Bishop   Seabury   in    1785,   the   first   to   receive   Episcopal 
ordination  in  this  country.     His  rectorship  extended  from 
1785-1824. 

The  first  church  building  in  Bridgeport  was  erected  in 
1801.  The  present  building,  built  1873,  is  the  fourth  of  the 
parish  holding.  No  records  of  Colonial  days  apart  from  the 
story  of  the  church  in  Southport  are  now  extant. 


St*  Paul's  Parish,  Ripton  (now  Huntingdon) 

1749- 

THE  parish  of  Ripton,  in  Huntington,  and  the  parish 
of  New  Stratford,  in  Monroe,  were  originally  part 
of  Christ  Church  parish,  Stratford.  St.  Paul's  Church  was 
built  about  1740.  Ripton  parish  was  set  off  from  Christ 
Church  parish  in  April,  1749.  The  first  missioner  was  the 
Reverend  Christopher  Newton,  one  of  a  small  number  who 
went  to  England  for  ordination.  He  was  ordained  both 
Deacon  and  Priest  in  July,  1755,  and  was  appointed  Mis- 
sioner at  Huntington  the  same  year.  Mr.  Newton  died  in 


— io6 — 

1787.  The  Rev.  Abram  Lyson  Clark  succeeded  him  in 
1787,  and  resigned  in  1792,  to  go  to  Providence,  R.  I.  He 
was  succeeded  by  the  Rev.  Charles  Seabury,  the  son  of 
Bishop  Seabury,  who  served  as  Rector  for  one  year. 

In  1811  the  old  church  was  burned  down,  and  the  present 
building  was  begun  soon  after  the  fire  and  completed  before 
Easter,  1812. 

Among  the  leading  laymen  of  Ripton  parish  in  its  early 
days  was  Mr.  Daniel  Shelton,  a  wealthy  landed  proprietor, 
who  was  a  sturdy  opponent  of  the  tax  for  the  State  Establish- 
ment, and  subscribed  largely  for  a  minister  in  his  town. 

It  was  at  one  time  one  of  the  leading  parishes  in  the  Dio- 
cese ;  and  there  is  a  tradition  that  one  of  the  early  Rectors  of 
Christ  Church,  Hartford,  came  to  St.  Paul's  Church,  Hunt- 
ington,  "on  his  way  up  the  ladder."  So  long  as  the  town 
of  Huntington  retained  its  position  among  the  towns  of  the 
State,  the  parish  held  a  high  position  in  the  Diocese.  When 
industrial  conditions  changed,  especially  after  the  Housatonic 
railroad  was  built,  the  population  gravitated  towards  the 
railroad  center,  as  elsewhere,  manufactures  were  given  up, 
one  by  one,  and  the  town  became  almost  entirely  a  farming 
community.  The  history  of  St.  Paul's  Church  ran  parallel 
with  that  of  the  town.  Little  by  little  it  has  declined,  both 
numerically  and  financially,  until  now  it  is  on  the  list  of 
"aided  parishes."  And  this  record  can  be  duplicated  over 
and  over  again  in  the  case  of  the  Colonial  parishes.  We 
are  now  engaged  in  the  usual  task  of  the  country  parish, — 
that  of  training  the  young  people  for  life  and  work  in  the 
city  parishes.  Much  of  the  strength  of  our  large  city  par- 
ishes is  owing,  in  great  measure,  to  the  faithful  and  efficient 
work  of  the  remote  and  almost  forgotten  country  church. 


— 107 — 

Horseneck  Chapel  (now  Greenwich) 

1749-1833. 

THE  first  Church  clergyman  to  visit  Horseneck  (now 
Greenwich)  was  the  Rev.  George  Muirson,  Rector 
of  Parish  of  Rye,  who,  about  the  year  1708,  accompanied 
by  Colonel  Caleb  Heathcote,  made  a  missionary  tour 
through  Greenwich  and  Stamford,  preaching  and  adminis- 
tering the  Sacraments.  Later  on,  about  1727,  occasional 
services  were  held  by  Rev.  Henry  Caner,  missionary  at 
Fairfield.  In  1739  Rev.  James  Wetmore  of  Rye  Parish 
officiated  over  a  month,  and  people  from  this  place  attended 
service  at  Rye.  In  1748,  Mr.  Ebenezer  Dibblee  was 
ordained  by  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  appointed 
Missionary  to  Stamford  and  Greenwich.  He  entered  upon 
his  duties  on  Oct.  26th  of  the  same  year.  An  immediate 
result  of  his  work  in  Greenwich  was  the  erection  of  Horse- 
neck  Chapel.  Writing  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Venerable 
Society,  under  date  of  Sept.  29,  1749,  Dr.  Dibblee  stated: 
"I  preach  at  Horseneck  the  second  Sunday  in  each  month, 
about  six  miles  from  Stamford ;  have  had  some  converts  to 
the  Church  there,  and  the  people  have  zealously  exerted 
themselves  to  build  a  small  chapel,  of  about  36  feet  in 
length  and  25  feet  in  breadth,  to  accommodate  our  assembly 
at  these  times,  which  they  have  enclosed  and  glazed.  And 
if  they  could  be  favored  with  a  Bible  and  Common  Prayer 
Book  for  that  Church,  it  will  be  a  very  welcome  present." 
The  request  for  the  Bible  and  Prayer  Book  was  granted, 
and  these  are  now  in  the  possession  of  Christ  Church 
Parish.  Horseneck  Chapel  was  built  upon  the  brow  of  the 
hill,  afterwards  made  famous  by  the  daring  ride  of  Israel 
Putnam  in  1778,  and  which  since  then  has  borne  the  proud 
title  of  Putnam  Hill.  In  this  little  chapel,  Dr.  Dibblee 


— io8— 

officiated  regularly;  and  we  read  that  the  building  was  oft 
overcrowded.  When  the  trying  times  of  the  war  of  the 
Revolution  came,  Dr.  Dibblee  remained  at  his  post,  min- 
istering as  best  he  could.  When  the  war  was  over,  and  the 
support  of  the  English  Society  was  withdrawn,  the  Church 
people  of  Stamford  and  Greenwich  undertook  to  provide  for 
their  clergyman's  maintenance,  it  being  agreed  that  the 
former  place  was  to  have  two-thirds  of  his  service  and  the 
latter  one-third. 

After  Dr.  Dibblee's  death  in  1799,  Rev.  George  Rogers 
officiated  in  Stamford  and  held  services  in  Horseneck 
Chapel.  But  the  building  was  neglected,  and  at  last  in 
two  gales  in  1821  or  1823  it  was  unroofed  and  demolished. 
The  door  was  preserved  by  some  devoted  church  people, 
and  half  of  it  is  now  in  the  possession  of  the  Rector  of 
Christ  Church.  From  this  time  to  the  building  of  the 
new  church  in  1832,  and  the  organization  of  the  parish  of 
Christ  Church,  few  if  any  public  services  of  the  Church 
were  held  in  Greenwich. 


Christ,  now  Holy  Trinity,  Middletown 


THE  first  services  in  Middletown  according  to  the  ritual 
of  the  Church  of  England  were  held  in  a  room  (which 
served  as  a  chapel  for  some  time)  in  a  large  house  which 
formerly  stood  on  the  north  side  of  Washington  Street,  on 
the  ground  now  known  as  "Wetmore  Place,"  and  named 
after  the  original  owner.  The  date  of  these  services  was 
prior  to  1730.  Here  the  interest  was  created  which  fur- 
nished the  "one  hundred  sober-minded  people"  which  met 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Punderson  at  his  first  service  here  in  1739.  In 
Dr.  Beardsley's  history  we  find  that  at  the  end  of  the  year 


: 


Fourth  Hishop  of  Connecticut. 
Consecrated  St.  John's  Church,  Hartford,  October  29,  1851.     Lived  in  Midclletown. 


— log — 

I742  thirty  families  earnestly  desired  the  favor  of  the 
"Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel,"  and  that  "a 
missionary  might  be  sent  to  them,"  and  in  March,  1749,  that 
"the  raising  of  the  church  was  near  at  hand."  The  then 
town  officials  having  reluctantly  given  them  liberty  to  build, 
and  staked  out  a  plot  on  the  east  end  of  the  South  Green,  a 
little  north  of  the  head  of  Union  Street,  the  building  was 
raised,  with  the  entrance  and  tower  at  the  west  end  and  the 
chancel  at  the  east.  "When  the  frame  was  completely 
raised,  there  was  a  shout  given  so  long  and  loud,  that  one 
who  lived  at  the  time  often  remarked  'that  it  could  be  heard 
perhaps  the  distance  of  a  mile.' "  The  tower  was,  in  later 
years,  blown  down  in  the  night  during  a  September  gale, 
and  as  the  road  then  crossed  the  Green  diagonally,  the  stage 
driver  boasted  the  next  morning  that  "he  had  driven  over 
the  Episcopal  steeple." 

It  was  in  this  edifice,  on  the  2d  of  August,  1785,  that  the 
first  Bishop  met  his  clergy  after  his  consecration  in  Scot- 
land. Three  of  the  clergy  (for  political  reasons)  had 
removed  to  the  British  Provinces ;  but  eleven  were  present, 
with  the  Rev.  Benjamin  Moore  of  New  York,  and  the  Rev. 
Samuel  Parker  of  Boston,  when  four  persons,  viz.,  Messrs. 
Henry  Vandyke,  Philo  Shelton  and  Ashbel  Baldwin,  with 
Colin  Ferguson  of  Maryland  (who  came  on  for  that  pur- 
pose), were  ordained  Deacons.  Thomas  Fitch  Oliver  was 
admitted  to  the  same  order  four  days  afterward,  and  Colin 
Ferguson  was  admitted  to  the  Priesthood.  Thus  in  one 
week  were  both  orders,  for  the  first  time  in  the  United 
States,  administered  in  this  parish,  known  at  that  time  and 
afterwards  as  Christ  Church.  The  present  name  was 
authorized  by  an  act  of  the  Legislature  in  1848.  This  was 
rendered  necessary  in  carrying  out  certain  provisions  of 
the  will  of  a  most  liberal  benefactor  of  the  church,  Mrs. 
Martha  Mortimer  Starr,  who  died  May  8,  1848.  The  first 
wardens  were  Philip  Mortimer  and  Caleb  Wetmore. 


— no — 


Colonial  Clergy  associated  with  Holy  Trinity, 
Middletown 

REV.  JAMES  WETMORE  (who  may  justly  be  called 
one  of  the  pioneers  of  the  Church  in  New  England) 
was  born,  of  Congregational  parents,  in  Middletown, 
December  31,  1695;  "entered  Yale  College  and  took  the 
degree  of  A.B.  in  September,  1714,  and  of  Master  of  Arts 
in  1717.  He  studied  with  Rev.  Noadiah  Russell  for  the 
ministry;  was  called  in  1718  to  North  Haven,  Conn.,  and 
in  the  fall  of  that  year  was  ordained  in  the  First  Congrega- 
tional Church  in  that  place."  He  continued  his  labors  four 
years,  when  he  became  convinced  that  the  ordination  under 
which  he  was  ministering  was  invalid;  whereupon  he, 
with  Dr.  Cutler,  Rector  of  Yale  College,  Dr.  Johnson,  Presi- 
dent of  King's  College  (now  Columbia)  of  New  York,  in 
1721  declared  publicly  their  belief  in  the  Divine  origin  and 
perpetual  obligation  of  Episcopacy. 

As  soon  after  this  declaration  as  arrangements  could  be 
perfected,  Mr.  Wetmore  sailed  for  England,  where  he  was 
ordained  Priest  by  the  Rt.  Rev.  Edmund  Gibson,  D.D., 
Lord  Bishop  of  London.  His  certificate  of  ordination  is 
dated  July,  1723.  While  there  he  received  from  the 
Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel,  etc.,  the  appoint- 
ment of  Catechist  and  Assistant  to  Trinity  Church,  New 
York,  September,  1723,  and  at  once  entered  upon  his  duties 
in  that  capacity.  In  1726  he  was  called  to  the  Rectorship 
at  Rye,  N.  Y.,  and  appointed  thereto  by  the  above-named 
Society,  April  25,  1727.  On  October  3,  1745,  he  writes 
to  the  Secretary  of  that  Society  thus : 

"I  was  three  weeks  ago  at  Middletown,  in  Connecticut, 
the  place  of  my  nativity,  which  I  have  been  used  to  visit 
annually  while  my  father  lived,  and  have  not  only  preached 
among  them,  and  baptized  many  children,  and  some  adults, 


— Ill — 

but  taken  pains  in  connection  with  my  relations  and  acquaint- 
ances to  give  them  just  notions  of  religion,  and  beget  in 
them  a  liking  for  the  Church  of  England ;  and  I  am  rejoiced 
to  see  very  hopeful  prospect  of  a  good  church  gathering  in 
that  place,  promoted  chiefly  by  some  brethren  of  mine." 

The  large  red  two-story  house,  on  the  north  side  of 
Washington  Street,  standing  there  in  1832,  upon  the  ground 
now  mapped  as  "Wetmore  Place,"  has  been  proved  to  be 
the  residence  of  his  brother  Ichabod  (for  many  years  a 
warden  of  this  parish),  and  undoubtedly  the  place  where 
Mr.  Wetmore  first  preached,  baptized  and  taught  the  tenets 
of  the  Episcopal  Church. 

In  his  reports  to  the  above-named  Secretary  in  1735, 
1736  and  1738  and  1739,  he  states  that,  in  addition  to  his 
own  parish,  he  had  been  doing  duty  at  North  Castle,  White 
Plains,  and  Bedford,  Westchester  County,  and  Stamford, 
Horse  Neck  and  Greenwich  in  Connecticut. 

His  pilgrimage  on  earth  was  closed  May  15,  1760. 
"Worthy,  learned  and  faithful." — Dr.  Johnson. 


112 — 


RT.  REV.  ABRAHAM  JARVIS  was  born  at  Norwalk, 
Conn.,  May  5  (O.  S.),  1739.  His  father  had  con- 
formed to  the  Church  of  England  two  years  before  the  birth 
of  the  future  Bishop.  He  was,  therefore,  from  the  beginning 
trained  to  the  highest  office  to  which  he  was  in  time  to  be 
called.  His  early  studies  were  pursued  at  Stamford,  under 
the  charge  of  the  Rev.  Noah  Welles,  the  Congregational 
minister  of  the  town,  who  was  a  noted  instructor  in  his  day. 
From  Stamford  he  passed  to  Yale  College,  where  he  was 
graduated  in  1761,  and  in  the  autumn  of  that  year  com- 
menced his  services  as  lay  reader  at  Middletown.  Early  in 

1763,  by  tax  and  subscription,  a  sufficient  sum  was  raised 
by  the  parish  to  defray  his  expenses  to  England  for  orders. 
In  the  autumn  of  1763  he  sailed  with  Bela  Hubbard,  who 
had  studied  with  Dr.  Johnson,  reaching  London  in  January, 

1764.  He   received    Deacon's   orders    from   Dr.    Keppel, 
Bishop  of  Exeter,  February  5,  and  Priest's  orders  from  Dr. 
Littleton,  Bishop  of  Carlisle,  in  St.  James's  Church,  West- 
minster, on  the  I9th  of  the  same  month.      He  sailed  for 
home  on  the  2oth  of  April,  arrived  in  Boston  in  June,  and 
on  the  ist  of  August  was  settled  as  Rector  at  Middletown. 

His  residence  was  located  on  the  southwest  corner  of 
South  Main  and  Church  Streets.  This  property,  consisting 
of  a  house  and  one  acre  of  land,  was  conveyed  to  this 
parish  as  a  glebe  by  Philip  Mortimer  and  Widow  Mary 
Alsop.  It  was  sold  by  vote  of  the  parish,  June  13,  1809, 
to  Thomas  Mather,  who  erected  the  present  house  thereon, 
known  in  later  years  as  the  home  of  Lieutenant-Governor 
Benjamin  Douglas,  deceased. 

In  1780,  Mr.  Jarvis  was  invited  to  the  charge  of  St. 
John's  Church,  Providence,  R.  I.,  but  declined  the  offer.  He 
received  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Sacred  Theology  from 
Yale  College,  New  Haven,  A.  D.  1796.  At  a  convention 
held  at  Wallingford  on  the  27th  of  February,  1787,  he  was 


RIGHT   REVEREND   ABRAHAM   JARVIS,   D.I).,   LL.D. 

Second  Bishop  of  Connecticut. 

Consecrated  Trinity  Church,  New  Haven,  Sept.  18,  1797. 

From  a  water  color  painted  by  his  son,  Rev.  Samuel  F.  Jarvis,  D.D.     Owned  by  his  grandson, 
Rev.  S.  F.  Jarvis. 


appointed  to  proceed  to  Scotland  for  consecration  as  Bishop, 
but  the  necessity  was  obviated. 

In  1796  Bishop  Seabury  died,  and  at  the  convention  of 
the  diocese  in  May  of  that  year,  Dr.  Jarvis  was  elected 
his  successor,  which  he  declined,  but  in  the  August  con- 
vention, when  he  was  elected  by  the  unanimous  vote  of 
both  clergy  and  laity,  he  accepted,  and  was  consecrated 
Bishop  of  Connecticut  in  Trinity  Church,  New  Haven,  on 
the  i8th  day  of  September,  A.  D.  1797,  by  the  Rt.  Rev. 
William  White,  D.D.,  assisted  by  the  Rt  Rev.  Samuel 
Provost,  D.D.,  and  the  Rt.  Rev.  Edward  Bass,  D.D. 
Bishop  Jarvis  served  his  parish  in  Middletown  two  years 
after  his  consecration  as  Bishop — in  all  thirty-five  years. 
He  then  removed  to  Cheshire,  where  he  had  already  placed 
his  son  at  school,  and  built  himself  a  house. 

Bishop  Jarvis's  episcopate  covered  a  period  of  a  little  less 
than  sixteen  years,  and  extended  through  the  time  of  the 
deepest  depression  of  the  church.  Under  God,  however, 
he  carried  his  diocese  safely  through  the  period  of  dis- 
couragement and  trial,  though  he  lived  to  see  the  first  beams 
of  a  brighter  day,  which,  after  1811,  began  to  dawn  upon 
the  church.  On  the  third  of  May,  1813,  at  his  residence, 
then  in  New  Haven,  after  a  short  but  severe  illness,  he 
rested  from  his  labors,  having  nearly  completed  his  seventy- 
fourth  year.  "He  was  buried,"  says  Dr.  Beardsley,  "in  the 
public  cemetery  then  recently  opened ;  but  upon  the  erection 
of  Trinity  Church  in  that  city,  his  remains  were  disinterred 
and  deposited  beneath  the  chancel  of  the  edifice  which  he 
had  hoped  to  see  erected." 


—114— 

Trinity  Church,  New  Haven 

1752. 

THE  representatives  of  Trinity  Church,  New  Haven, 
take  a  very  modest  position  on  this  historic  occasion. 
We  do  not  even  know  with  precision  the  date  of  our  birth- 
day as  an  Ecclesiastical  Society.  But  we  know  that  we 
are  more  than  forty  years  younger  than  Stratford,  the 
pioneer  of  Connecticut  parishes;  we  know  that  our  first 
church  was  built  in  1752,  although  services  had  been  held 
in  New  Haven  prior  to  this  time;  and  that  on  these  grounds 
we  can  claim  only  the  twenty-seventh  place  in  order  of 
precedence  amongst  parishes  of  Colonial  foundation ;  but 
there  is  no  record  of  the  exact  date  of  the  organization  of 
the  parish. 

One  of  the  missionaries  of  the  Society  for  the  Propagation 
of  the  Gospel,  the  Rev.  Jonathan  Arnold  (a  Connecticut 
man),  was  in  London  in  1734,  and  evidently  hoped  on  his 
return  to  begin  systematic  work  in  New  Haven;  for  he 
tried  to  obtain  funds  for  the  building  of  a  church  and 
parsonage  in  that  city.  He  was  appointed  to  work  in  Con- 
necticut, but  at  that  time  the  influence  of  Congregationalism, 
and  of  its  stronghold,  Yale  College,  were  unfavorable  to 
the  planting  of  the  Church  in  New  Haven.  The  latter 
institution  had  taken  alarm  at  the  secession  of  its  president, 
Doctor  Cutler,  who  with  several  friends  had  declared  for 
Episcopacy  in  1722  and  the  few — very  few — scattered 
Church  people  had  to  encounter  much  opposition  when  they 
conceived  the  idea  of  building  a  church.  They  made  their 
venture  of  faith,  however,  as  above  stated,  in  1752,  when 
they  numbered,  all  told,  men,  women  and  children,  but 
eighty-seven  souls. 

Scarcely  any  one  can  visit  New  Haven,  and  no  one  can 
live  there,  without  passing  the  site  of  the  first  Trinity 


TRINITY   CHURCH,    NEW    HAVEN. 
First  Building,  1752. 


Church.  The  humble  little  wooden  edifice,  contemptu- 
ously named  a  "reading-house"  by  a  local  historian,  stood 
about  one  hundred  feet  north  of  the  present  post  office  on 
the  other  side  (the  east)  of  Church  Street.  It  was  dis- 
tinguished from  the  meeting-house  of  the  period  by  its 
chancel  and  by  its  spire.  This  was  the  first  spire  built  in 
New  Haven,  and  was  said  by  a  vestry-man,  whose  enthus- 
iasm blinded  him  to  a  sense  of  the  ludicrous,  to  symbolize 
"good  Mother  church,  with  one  foot  on  the  apostolic  rock, 
and  the  other  (!)  pointing  to  the  skies."  The  sentiment, 
however  quaintly  expressed,  seems  to  have  been  adopted 
by  other  religious  societies  in  New  Haven,  for  within 
twenty  years  steeples  adorned  three  meeting-houses  in  the 
city.  If  imitation  is  the  sincerest  flattery,  the  little  Epis- 
copal congregation  must  have  observed  this  growth  with 
some  complacency. 

The  weather-vane  on  Trinity  Church  was  in  the  form 
of  a  crown,  but  this  was  removed  after  the  Revolution. 
The  church  was  correctly  orientated,  with  the  altar  at 
the  east  end,  thus  conforming  to  the  immemorial  custom  of 
the  mother  country ;  whether  this  was  done  by  accident  or 
design  is  an  open  question.  The  church  was  built  by  one 
Thomas  Davis ;  and  tradition  says  that  "when  the  frame  of 
the  building  was  raised,  the  heads  of  all  the  Episcopal  fam- 
ilies in  New  Haven  sat  down  on  the  door-sill,  and  spoke 
hesitatingly  of  their  future  growth."  The  workmen  were 
taken  to  board  by  the  church  families  in  rotation ;  and 
within  a  few  years  an  aged  person  was  living  who  remem- 
bered hearing  from  his  grandmother  that  she  took  her  turn 
with  others  in  rendering  this  practical  service  to  the  infant 
parish.  Missionaries  of  the  Venerable  Society,  including 
the  Rev.  Ebenezer  Punderson,  who  had  contributed  liberally 
to  the  new  building,  ministered  in  this  church  until  1767, 
when  the  Rev.  Bela  Hubbard  became  the  first  Rector. 


— n6— 

The  names  of  many  of  the  faithful  laity  are  also  known. 
Every  member  of  Trinity  parish  should  honor  the  memory 
of  one  Enos  Ailing,  whose  sagacity,  prudence,  and  fore- 
sight secured  for  the  church  a  valuable  endowment.  A 
bequest  of  a  plot  of  land,  to  be  used  for  Ecclesiastical  pur- 
poses, had  been  made  some  years  before  the  church  was 
built,  by  the  non-resident  heir  of  one  of  the  early  settlers. 
The  bequest  was  invalid;  but  Enos  Ailing  (in  those  days 
often  called  "Bishop  Ailing,"  on  account  of  his  zeal  for 
the  church),  recognized  the  value  of  the  land;  he  bought 
it,  and  transferred  it  in  1765  to  the  wardens  and  vestry  of 
Trinity  parish,  for  the  sum  of  $1,356 — a  price  which  would 
now  be  minute  considering  the  central  situation  of  the 
property,  but  which  then,  probably,  represented  its  fair 
market  value. 

The  parish  prospered  under  Doctor  Hubbard's  ministra- 
tions. The  people  were  poor,  yet  they  managed  to  pay 
their  debts,  to  afford  the  then  rare  luxury  of  an  organ  for 
their  church  in  1784,  to  contribute  their  share  towards 
Diocesan  expenses,  and  to  provide  a  modest  income  for 
their  Rector.  In  this  matter  they  had  some  help  from  West 
Haven,  where  a  part  of  Doctor  Hubbard's  time  was  spent. 

There  is  no  record  of  the  consecration  of  the  original 
Trinity  church,  although  Bishop  Seabury  visited  it  several 
times,  and  the  first  completely  organized  Diocesan  conven- 
tion, with  bishop,  clergy,  and  laity,  met  within  its  walls  in 
1792;  and  five  years  later  Bishop  Jarvis  was  consecrated 
there.  The  building  was  enlarged  twice,  once  by  an 
addition,  once  by  the  erection  of  galleries ;  but  the  congre- 
gation grew  apace,  and  early  in  the  nineteenth  century  the 
new  Trinity  church,  the  one  we  all  know,  was  built  on  New 
Haven  Green.  It  was  finished  and  consecrated  in  1816, 
soon  after  the  appointment  of  the  Rev.  Harry  Croswell  as 
Rector.  Three  of  the  five  bishops  of  our  diocese  are  asso- 
ciated with  this  church ;  the  remains  of  Bishop  Jarvis  rest 


RIGHT    REVEREND    THOMAS    C.    EROWNELL,    D.D.,    LL.D. 

Third  Bishop  of  Connecticut. 
Consecrated  in  Trinity  Church,  New  Haven. 


beneath  its  Chancel,  and  Bishops  Brownell  and  Brewster 
were  consecrated  before  its  Altar. 

Trinity  parish  is  still  young.  What  is  a  century  and 
a  half  in  the  history  of  the  Catholic  church — the  Holy 
Church  throughout  all  the  world,  of  which  our  diocese  and 
our  parishes  form  an  integral  part?  Her  members,  who 
have  the  honor  to  represent  her  here  to-day,  can  desire  noth- 
ing better  for  their  own  or  for  their  sister  parishes  than  that 
they  may  be  permitted  to  uplift  the  Cross  during  succeeding 
centuries,  as  it  has  been  uplifted  during  the  years  that  lie 
behind  us,  until  the  world  ranks  itself  beneath  this  standard, 
and  the  Kingdom  of  our  Lord  is  established. 


One  of  the  founders  of  Trinity  parish  was  Isaac  Doolittle.  The 
following  interesting  note  in  regard  to  him  has  been  furnished  by 
one  of  his  descendants. 

Recorded  in  original  charters  in  archives  of  La  Manche,  Abbey  of 
Mont  St.  Michael  for  Benedictine  monks  in  Diocese  of  Avranche, 
France,  A.  D.  1085-1087 — is  found  the  following: 

Ranulphus  de  Dolieta,  Testemonio : — "For  forgiveness  of  misdeeds 
of  himself  and  his  predecessors  and  successors  he  grants  in  the 
time  of  William,  King  of  England,  to  the  Monks  of  St.  Michael  for 
the  brotherhood  and  the  prayers  of  St.  Michael  and  the  Monks,  his 
servants,  all  the  dues  on  his  lands." 

Rudolph  of  Dolieta,  a  Norman  noble  who  accompanied  the  Con- 
querer,  is  honored  as  being  the  progenitor  of  the  family  well  known 
in  England's  annals  by  the  prosaic  name  of  Doolittle,  so  did  the 
practical  English  tongue  deal  with  the  elegant  Norman  cognomen. 

The  history  of  this  family  in  England  may  be  clearly  traced, — and 
it  is  well  known  among  the  early  settlers  of  the  American  colonies. 

In  the  Revolutionary  days  we  find  that  one  of  the  family  known 
as  Isaac  Doolittle  had  become  an  enthusiastic  citizen  of  New 
Haven — Trinity  Church,  of  which  he  was  a  member,  was  the  object 
of  his  warm  and  earnest  attachment.  His  generous  contributions 
greatly  aided  in  the  building  of  the  first  house  of  worship  for 
the  parish,  and  he  was  chosen  a  member  of  its  vestry. 

He  was  a  man  of  varied  interest — he  was  a  manufacturer  of 
brass  hall-clocks,  and  was  engaged  in  the  business  of  casting  bells. 


— iiS— 

When  the  Revolutionary  War  came  he  belonged  to  a  company 
that  made  great  quantities  of  gunpowder. 

This  business  brought  upon  him  the  disapproval  of  the  congrega- 
tion of  Trinity  parish — and  he  was  dropped  from  the  vestry  "because 
he  had  aided  the  king's  enemies  by  making  powder." 

At  the  conclusion  of  peace,  Mr.  Doolittle  was  reinstated  in  the 
"hearts  of  his  countrymen" — and  in  the  vestry  he  became  one  of  the 
wardens. 

He  was,  finally,  buried  at  New  Haven,  near  the  State  House. 


Trinity  Church,  Branford 

1752. 

IT  was  in  the  year  1748  that  the  Rev.  Matthew  Graves, 
missionary  in  New  London  for  the  Propagation  of  the 
Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,  received  an  urgent  invitation  to 
visit  the  town  of  Branford.  The  invitation  was  accepted, 
and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Graves  gives  us  a  most  flattering  report  of 
his  first  visit  to  our  parish.  He  says,  "I  performed  service 
at  Branford  to  a  most  agreeable  sight  of  auditors,  who 
behaved  very  well,  and  some  of  the  chief  Presbyterians 
came  to  my  lodgings  and  returned  me  thanks." 

This  is  the  first  church  in  our  town  of  which  we  have  a 
definite  record;  but  Dr.  Johnson  had  probably  visited  here 
before,  as  he  writes  that  during  the  previous  summer  he 
"had  preached  to  large  numbers,  both  in  Guilford  and 
Branford." 

In  1752  a  parish  had  been  organized  and  the  Rev. 
Ebenezer  Punderson  placed  in  charge.  His  services  were 
however  necessarily  irregular,  as  he  had,  all  together,  the 
three  parishes,  New  Haven,  Guilford,  and  Branford,  and 
often  found  difficulty  in  crossing  the  ferry,  "where,"  says 
our  historian,  "he  must  often  have  passed  the  house  where 


Governor  Saltonstall,  the  stout  champion  of  Congregational- 
ism, had  lived  and  held  services." 

He  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev.  Solomon  Palmer,  a  native 
of  Branford,  who  had,  for  fourteen  years,  been  a  Congrega- 
tional minister  at  Cornwall  in  this  State,  when  one  Sunday 
he  surprised  his  congregation  by  declaring  for  Episcopacy. 
His  labors  were  very  acceptable  to  all,  and  he  so  strength- 
ened the  little  flock  in  Branford,  that  in  1776  the  parish  had 
much  increased  and  decided  to  build  a  church  and  to  keep 
Mr.  Palmer  as  "resident  minister  to  themselves  alone." 

"But  we  now  enter  the  clouds  of  the  Revolution,"  says  our 
historian.  "It  was  impossible  that  Episcopacy  could  have 
flourished  in  America  at  that  time.  The  names  Tory  and 
Churchman  were  often  synonymous.  The  little  town  was 
alive  with  preparations  for  war,  sending  detachments  to 
the  field,  making  and  storing  gun-powder,  and  setting 
watches  on  the  coast,  at  Branford  Point,  Indian  Neck,  and 
Stony  Creek.  In  troublous  times  the  interest  in  affairs 
of  state  becomes  supreme  and  interest  in  religion  diminishes. 
Obscurity  settles  down  then  over  our  parish  until  1784,  when 
it  emerges  with  a  great  promise  of  strength  and  prosperity. 
The  next  year,  we  have  it  recorded,  that  the  Rev.  James 
Sayre  be  invited  to  come  to  Branford  and  open  the  church, 
that  is,  to  have  an  initial  service,  as  it  were,  of  the  new 
parish,  for  there  was  even  then  no  church  edifice. 

This  same  Mr.  Sayre  was  evidently  in  charge  of  the  parish 
during  the  erection  of  the  first  church  building,  and  a  few 
years  later  he  speaks  affectionately  in  a  letter  of  his  "little 
former  flock  in  Branford." 

In  December,  1784,  a  subscription  paper  was  started  to 
build  the  church.  A  part  of  the  subcriptions  was  paid  in 
labor  and  goods,  and  in  due  time  the  timber  was  drawn, 
the  frame  finished,  and  the  next  year  a  contract  was  given 
to  one  Jacob  Tyler  of  Southington,  to  complete  the  church. 
A  part  of  this  contract  was  to  be  paid  in  cattle  and  cash 


—  I2O — 

and  a  part  in  West  India  rum  and  dry  goods.  The  work 
was  now  progressing  rapidly,  and  between  the  months  of 
December  and  May,  1786,  the  church  was  ready  to  be 
occupied. 

This  old  church  was  a  most  unpretentious  edifice,  being 
built  very  much  after  the  school-house  model.  Dr. 
Beardsley,  in  his  History  of  Connecticut,  very  aptly  describes 
this  old  building,  when  he  says  that  an  "ill-proportioned 
edifice  was  erected  in  Branford  and  occupied  as  early  as 
May,  1786."  But  although  a  homely  structure,  it  repre- 
sented much  devotion  and  toil  on  the  part  of  the  parish. 
There  are  many  people  now  living  who  remember  this 
quaint  old  church,  where  the  Sunday  school  used  to  gather 
about  the  wide  rail  to  be  catechized  by  the  Bishop,  where  the 
pulpit  was  high  and  stood  against  the  wall,  having  a  small 
dark  robing  room  under  it,  and  the  altar  stood  just  below. 
Over  the  entrance  was  a  semicircular  gallery,  where  the 
choir  sang  old-time  music  to  the  tones  of  the  bass-viol,  flute, 
and  violin.  For  about  forty  years  there  was  no  way  of 
heating  the  old  church,  but  afterwards  a  stove  for  burning 
wood  was  put  in,  the  pipe  going  through  the  window,  in 
right  primitive  fashion.  The  seats  were  free,  while 
expenses  were  paid  by  a  direct  tax.  From  this  time  on, 
the  sources  of  the  church  were  kept  up  by  resident  ministers 
and  others,  with  some  irregularity. 

The  corner-stone  of  the  present  church  was  laid  in  April, 
1851,  very  near  the  site  of  the  old  church  on  the  green, 
where  to  this  day  its  line  of  foundation  stone  appears 
through  the  turf. 

It  is  indeed  fitting  that  we  should  join  in  this  2OOth  cele- 
bration of  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel,  for 
from  the  first  rare  visits  of  its  missionaries  have  arisen  the 
foundations  of  our  church  and  parish,  and  from  them  has 
come  the  inestimable  privilege  of  hearing  proclaimed  in  our 
midst,  the  glad  tidings  of  the  Gospel  of  peace. 


— 121  — 


Christ  Church,  Sharon 

1754- 

FROM  the  settlement  of  the  town  of  Sharon  in  1738-9 
there  had  been  resident  here  several  families  of  the 
communion  of  the  Church  of  England,  but  they  were 
never  sufficiently  numerous  to  form  a  separate  congrega- 
tion or  to  maintain  public  worship  until  about  the  year 
1755;  in  this  year,  on  the  I4th  day  of  April,  leave  was  given 
by  the  town  to  those  of  that  communion  "to  erect  a  church 
at  the  corner  of  the  highways  that  come  from  the  upper 
end  of  the  town  and  the  Iron  works  Hollow."  This  was 
at  the  head  of  the  present  Green.  The  building  was 
erected  and  stood  for  nearly  forty  years.  It  is  mentioned 
as  a  singular  circumstance  in  regard  to  its  construction  that 
its  external  covering  was  a  coat  of  mortar.  Public  worship 
was  maintained  in  it  for  a  number  of  years;  the  desk 
being  supplied  by  missionaries  sent  out  by  the  Honorable 
Society  for  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts. 
The  first  of  the  missionaries  who  labored  here  was  the  Rev. 
Ebenezer  Dibblee,  whose  permanent  home  was  at  Stamford, 
but  who  had  the  care  of  many  of  the  churches  in  the  west- 
ern part  of  the  Colony.  After  Mr.  Dibblee,  the  Rev.  Solo- 
mon Palmer  and  the  Rev.  Thomas  Davies  had  the  charge 
of  the  churches  of  New  Milford,  Roxbury,  New  Preston, 
and  New  Fairfield.  The  leading  churchmen  in  the  town 
were  Messrs.  Joel  Harvey,  Job  Gould,  Elnathan  Goodrich, 
John  Pennoyer,  Simeon  Rowley,  Samuel  Hitchcock,  Solomon 
Goodrich,  and  perhaps  some  others.  At  one  time  during 
his-  ministry  Mr.  Davies  reported  the  number  of  families 
belonging  to  the  parish  to  be  twenty-two  and  the  number 
of  communicants  to  be  nineteen.  During  the  Revolu- 
tionary War  the  church  building  was  deserted,  turned  into 


122 — 


a  barrack,  and  never  again  used  as  a  place  of  worship. 
Mr.  Richard  Clark  succeeded  Mr.  Davies  in  this  mission 
and  resided  in  New  Milford  until  the  close  of  the  war. 

— Extracts  from  Sedgwick's  History  of  Sharon. 


St.  John's,  North  Haven 

(1722)  1759. 

THE  first  date  in  the  history  of  St.  John's  Parish  may  be 
said  to  be  in  the  year  1722 — when  a  few  families  met 
in  the  house  of  one  Ebenezer  Blakeslee,  a  blacksmith — in 
accordance  with  the  following  resolution,  "Agreed  on  by 
ye  society  that  they  will  accept  of  ye  house  of  Ebenezer 
Blakeslee  for  ye  publick  worship  of  God,  until  ye  major  part 
of  ye  society  shall  see  cause  to  lay  it  aside." 

This  society  was  only  carrying  on  the  work  begun  by 
the  Rev.  James  Wetmore,  who  had  been  pastor  of  the 
Congregational  Church  in  North  Haven,  but  together  with 
Cutler  and  Johnson  had  declared  for  Episcopacy  in  1722, 
and  gone  to  England  for  orders. 

In  1740,  North  Haven,  Wallingford,  Cheshire,  and  North- 
ford  founded  a  "Union  Church,"  and  a  rude  building  was 
erected  at  "Pond  Hill",  about  a  mile  from  North  Haven 
center.  For  about  seventeen  years  the  worshippers  gathered 
here,  and  then  disbanded — not  for  lack  of  interest,  but 
because  the  growth  of  Episcopacy  warranted  the  organ- 
izing of  parishes  in  Wallingford  and  North  Haven. 

In  1759,  St.  John's  Parish  was  organized,  with  Ebenezer 
Blakeslee  as  senior  warden.  The  first  church  was  erected 
the  following  year  under  the  ministry  of  the  Rev.  Ebenezer 
Punderson.  The  dedication  took  place  on  St.  John's  Day, 
December  27,  1761,  and  the  church  was  elaborately  decorated 


—123— 

with  evergreens,  an  unusual  custom  then  in  these  staid  New 
England  towns. 

The  church  was  not  established  in  North  Haven  without 
struggles  and  difficulties.  The  Churchmen  were  sadly  in 
the  minority,  but  bravely  withstood  the  opposition  which  the 
Church  of  England  had  to  fight  against  at  that  time. 

The  Rev.  Isaac  Stiles,  father  of  Ezra  Stiles,  Yale's  well 
known  president,  spared  the  Churchmen  here  the  serious 
troubles  experienced  elsewhere,  on  account  of  his  conserva- 
tism. 

Dr.  Benjamin  Trumbull,  Connecticut's  historian,  his  suc- 
cessor, was  not  as  lenient,  though  he  showed  his  feelings  of 
enmity  in  words,  not  deeds.  Many  of  his  sarcastic  remarks 
rankled  in  the  breasts  of  St.  John's  parishioners.  He  it 
was  who  remarked,  when  he  heard  that  the  Episcopal  church 
was  to  be  built  on  some  land  he  wanted,  that  "it  did  not 
matter  much,  he  would  soon  have  the  church  for  a  barn." 

It  was  he  who  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  reason 
for  the  continuance  of  Episcopacy  was  the  size  of  certain 
Episcopal  families.  There  were  eighty-three  persons  in  the 
ten  families  representing  St.  John's  Parish. 

The  Rev.  Samuel  Andrews  was  really  the  founder  of 
Episcopacy  in  North  Haven  and  the  surrounding  towns. 
He  went  to  England  for  ordination,  returned  in  January, 
1763,  and  delivered  his  first  discourse,  February  14,  at  St. 
John's  Church,  North  Haven,  to  an  audience  of  one  hundred 
people. 

The  music  of  the  church  at  that  time  was  most  remark- 
able. It  was  under  the  direction  of  Titus  Frost,  a  lame 
chair-maker,  who  proved  himself  worthy  of  the  position. 
He  made  for  the  church  the  first  piece  of  chancel  furniture, 
a  chair ;  on  the  day  it  was  presented  he,  together  with  a  few 
friends,  put  it  in  its  place,  and  coming  back  down  the  aisle, 
Titus  Frost  limping  at  the  head  of  the  procession,  they  all 
sang  "Praise  God,  from  whom  all  blessings  flow."  This 


— 124 — 

was  the  first  processional  hymn  in  the  history  of  St.  John's 
Church. 

The  first  Episcopal  visitation  was  by  Bishop  Seabury,  for 
confirmation  on  October  3,  1786.  This  is  the  oldest  pre- 
served exact  date  of  any  confirmation  in  the  United  States. 

The  most  trying  period  in  the  whole  history  of  St.  John's 
Church  was  from  1785  to  1790,  after  the  Revolution.  The 
Rev.  Samuel  Andrews  and  many  of  his  parishioners  were 
Tories,  and  this  fact  aroused  a  bitter  feeling  against  the 
church  here  and  elsewhere.  As  there  were  but  fourteen 
Episcopal  clergymen  left  in  Connecticut,  it  was  impossible 
for  the  parish  to  secure  the  services  of  a  clergymen  even 
for  an  occasional  Sunday.  So  "lay  services"  were  the 
necessity  for  five  long  years,  and  it  was  just  here  that  Titus 
Frost  and  his  choir  came  to  the  rescue  and  took  a  large  share 
in  brightening  the  services  and  keeping  up  the  interest  of 
the  people.  We  are  told  that  the  music  of  St.  John's, 
North  Haven,  was  unsurpassed  in  the  State.  Chanting  was 
introduced  in  1820,  and  in  1832  the  first  organ  was  purchased 
from  St.  Paul's,  Wallingford.  It  was  the  second  of  its  kind 
brought  into  the  State  and  was  imported  from  England  in 
1762. 

Since  then  St.  John's  has  prospered  in  spite  of  the  hard- 
ships with  which  it  has  had  to  contend,  and  this  prosperity 
is  due,  not  only  to  the  clergy,  but  to  the  interest  shown  by 
the  laity  and  the  harmony  with  which  they  have  worked 
together. 


St.  Peter's,  Cheshire 

(1729)  1760 

IN  1723,  when  the  "West  Farmers,"  as  those  living  in 
what  is  now  Cheshire,  then  a  part  of  Wallingford,  were 
called,  formed  the  "new  Cheshire  Parish,"  there  were  thirty- 
three  families  "all  of  the  Congregational  belief"  it  was  said. 

It  is  probable  that  among  these  were  some,  who  at  heart 
loved  the  Prayer  Book  and  its  services ;  but,  if  we  call  to 
mind  the  restrictions  under  which  Church  of  England  people 
rested,  and  the  lack  of  clergy,  it  will  not  seem  strange  that 
the  two  or  three  let  themselves  be  counted  in  as  Congrega- 
tionalists.  To  be  sure  the  Commissioners  of  Charles  II, 
in  1665,  were  assured  that  the  "Colony  will  not  hinder  any 
from  enjoying  the  Sacraments  and  using  the  Common 
Prayer  Book,  provided  they  hinder  not  the  maintenance  of 
the  public  minister,"  yet  it  was  not  until  1708  that  any  legal 
provision  was  made  for  such  liberty.  Then  they  were 
allowed  "if  they  soberly  dissented"  from  the  Congrega- 
tional order  to  have  public  worship  in  their  own  way,  but 
were  still  obliged  to  pay  for  the  support  of  the  Congrega- 
tional Church,  in  the  places  of  their  respective  residences, 
and  not  until  1727  were  they  relieved  from  this  restriction 
and  also  excused  from  paying  taxes  for  building  meeting- 
houses for  the  established  church  'of  the  colony. 

The  absence  of  these  restrictions  and  the  ministrations  of 
Mr.  Johnson  (the  only  Episcopal  clergyman  in  the  colony) 
quickened  slumbering  hearts,  and  in  1729  we  find  the  first 
written  evidence  of  an  Episcopalian  in  Cheshire.  In  that 
year  a  letter  was  sent  from  Wallingford  to  the  Bishop  of 
London,  which  closes  with  these  words:  "And  now  that 
God  may  bless  your  Lordship,  and  the  charitable  endeavors 
of  the  honorable  Society  and  enable  them  to  send  more 


— 126 — 

laborers  to  a  harvest  truly  plentiful,  is  the  sincere  prayer  of 
Your  Lordship's  most  dutiful  and  obedient  servants." 
Among  the  fifteen  signers  appears  the  name  of  Matthew 
Bellamy,  who  was  a  resident  of  New  Cheshire  Parish  from 
1708  until  his  death  in  1752,  and  whose  name  later  appears 
among  the  vestrymen  of  the  Union  Church  in  1740. 

This  Union  Church  was  built  in  that  year  at  a  place  called 
Pond  Hill  in  Wallingford,  and  its  members  lived  in  that 
place,  North  Haven  and  Cheshire.  The  Episcopalians  in 
Cheshire  travelled  this  long  distance  to  church  until  1751. 
Davis's  History  of  Wallingford  says:  "In  1751  the  Rev. 
Ichabod  Camp  formed  an  Episcopal  Society  in  Cheshire, 
and  for  a  time  services  were  read  by  a  layman  named  Moss." 
On  this  point  Dr.  Beardsley's  sermon  says:  "Mr.  Joseph 
Moss  was  one  of  the  warmest  and  most  zealous  defenders 
of  its  worship;  and  to  him,  more  perhaps  than  to  any  other 
layman,  you  are  indebted  for  all  you  have  been  and  all  you 
are.  He  it  was  who  first  gathered  some  of  his  friends  and 
neighbors  in  the  house  of  Zachariah  Ives  and  read  to  them 
the  service  of  the  Church.  In  1760  he  bought  the  ground 
on  which  the  present  building  stands;  and  with  the  aid  of 
Henry  Brooks,  Sen.,  Zachariah  Ives,  Dr.  Benjamin  Lewis, 
Amos  Matthews,  Ebenezer  Tuttle,  Moses  Tuttle,  and  Isaac 
Tyler  erected  a  small  church  for  the  accommodation  of  the 
Episcopalians  in  Cheshire." 

The  deeds  he  gave  conveying  the  land  on  which  the 
church  stands  and  the  burial  ground,  are  still  in  existence 
and  bear  the  respective  dates  of  1765  and  1767.  The  first 
regular  clergyman  who  ministered  in  this  parish  was,  as 
before  mentioned,  the  Rev.  Ichabod  Camp,  who,  returning 
from  England  after  his  ordination,  in  1752,  acted  as  mission- 
ary in  Middletown,  Wallingford,  and  Cheshire  until  his 
removal  to  Virginia,  eight  years  later. 

In  1761,  the  Rev.  Samuel  Andrews,  born  in  Meriden  in 
1737,  the  youngest  of  eight  sons,  returned  from  England 


—127— 

with  the  appointment  of  missionary  to  Wallingford,  Ches- 
hire and  North  Haven.  One  fourth  of  the  time  he  preached 
in  Cheshire  and  the  congregation  increased  so  much  under 
his  ministry,  that,  in  1770  the  parish  proceeded  to  the 
erection  of  the  church  which  answered  until  1839.  This 
building  was  at  first  without  a  steeple  and  being  a  square 
forty-two  feet  by  forty-two  feet,  and  very  high,  presented 
an  awkward  appearance.  An  anecodote,  illustrative  of  this 
point,  is  told  of  Bishop  Seabury.  Being  here,  on  a  visita- 
tion to  the  parish,  some  one  of  the  leading  members 
remarked  that  they  were  contemplating  erecting  soon  a  stee- 
ple to  their  church.  The  Bishop  looked  at  the  building  and 
very  good  naturedly  replied,  that  he  thought  they  "had  better 
build  a  church  to  their  steeple."  Later  we  read  that  "such 
was  their  prosperity  in  1795,  that  they  enlarged  this  house  of 
worship,  and  added  the  steeple."  From  1770  until  the  break- 
ing out  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  harmony  and  prosperity 
continued  in  the  parish.  Then,  in  common  with  many 
Episcopal  parishes  in  the  land,  this  suffered  much  from  the 
persecution  of  those  who  sought  to  enfeeble  and  destroy 
whatever  savored  of  the  king  and  his  country. 


—  123— 

Cheshire  Academy 

1796. 

[This  school  is  so  thoroughly  the  result  of  the  Colonial  period, 
that  it  is  has  been  thought  best  to  preserve  this  record  of  its  founda- 
tion in  this  place. — ED.] 

THE  history  of  the  Episcopal  Academy  of  Connecticut 
is  so  closely  interwoven  with  the  parish  history  that 
it  is  most  fitting  mention  of  it  should  be  made  in  this  paper. 
The  first  record  relating  to  its  establishment  was  made  in 
1792,  when,  at  the  convention  of  the  clergy,  it  was  voted 
"that  the  several  clergy  make  inquiry  of  their  neighboring 
towns  and  see  what  can  be  done  toward  erecting  an  Episco- 
pal Academy  and  report  at  the  next  convention."  And  at 
a  subsequent  convention  a  committee  was  appointed  to 
receive  proposals  from  various  towns  and  to  establish  the 
institution  in  that  place,  which  should  be  considered  by 
them  the  most  eligible.  They  selected  Cheshire,  and,  in 
1796,  the  Academy  was  built  by  thirty  proprietors  at  a  cost 
of  £702  lawful  money,  and  by  them  conveyed  to  the  Board 
of  Trustees,  to  be  "forever  applied  to  the  use  of  an  Institu- 
tion conducted  upon  the  principles  of  the  Protestant  Episco- 
pal Church."  Some  of  these  proprietors  were  from  the  Con- 
gregational Society ;  but  by  far  the  greater  majority  were 
Episcopalians,  who  contributed  not  merely  with  a  view  to 
the  benefit  of  the  town,  but  of  the  Church  throughout  the 
diocese  and  country.  That  these  proprietors  made  sacrifices 
in  order  to  subscribe,  is  shown  by  the  following  true  story. 
Hearing  of  her  husband's  subscription,  the  wife  of  one  of 
these  proprietors  said  she  thought  "he  ought  to  buy  some 
windows  for  his  house  first." 

It  was  no  doubt  owing  to  the  exertions  of  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Ives  that  Cheshire  responded  so  liberally.  "It  was  the  first 


— 129 — 

institution  of  the  kind  strictly  belonging  to  the  Church  of 
England,"  says  Dr.  Beardsley,  "and  one  of  the  first  in  the 
country."  "The  care  which  was  shown  in  framing  a  code 
of  laws  for  its  temporary  government  and  also  in  forming 
a  constitution  upon  the  most  liberal  and  beneficial  plan" 
proved  that  it  was  the  design  to  erect  it  into  a  college ;  and 
under  Dr.  Bowden,  its  first  honored  and  accomplished  Prin- 
cipal, chosen  by  the  convention,  the  design  was  fostered  and 
ripened  ultimately  into  repeated  applications  to  the  General 
Assembly  for  an  "enlargement  of  its  charter  to  Collegiate 
powers."  By  referring  to  the  seventh  and  eighth  articles 
of  the  original  constitution,  we  find  that  the  principal  and 
his  assistant  were  required  to  teach  "the  English  Lan- 
guage, Philosophy,  Mathematics,  and  every  other  science 
usually  taught  at  colleges;  likewise  the  dead  languages, 
such  as  Greek  and  Latin.  And  whenever  the  finances  of 
the  Academy  will  admit,  the  Trustees  shall  procure  an 
Instructor  in  the  French  language,  purchase  a  Library  and 
Philosophical  apparatus  at  their  own  discretion." 

The  Academy  seems  to  have  made  encouraging  progre'ss 
and  its  merits  had  begun  to  attract  the  attention  of  Church- 
men in  all  parts  of  the  country — the  number  of  students 
consequently  increasing,  when  an  unexpected  shock  was 
given  to  the  friends  of  the  Institution  by  the  resignation  of 
Dr.  Bowden. 

Among  the  efforts  made  to  increase  the  funds — one  then 
regarded  as  perfectly  consistent  with  the  dictates  of  Chris- 
tian morality — was  a  petition  to  the  General  Assembly  for 
a  lottery  to  ra'ise  the  sum  of  £4,00x3.  In  1802,  an  act  was 
finally  passed,  granting  a  lottery,  to  raise  the  sum  of 
$15,000.  After  considerable  delay,  and  no  little  loss  in  the 
sale  of  tickets,  the  managers  closed  their  drawings,  and  the 
net  proceeds  amounted  to  $12,000.  There  is  now,  at  the 
Academy,  a  book  containing  unsold  lottery  tickets,  and 
among  our  Parish  records,  dated  1803,  is  the  following: 
9 


—130— 

"On  motion  that  two  tickets  in  the  Episcopal  Academy  Lot- 
tery be  purchased  by  subscription — Agreed  to  and  money 
advanced."  A  list  of  names  and  subscriptions  amounting 
to  $10,  follows,  with  this  statement :  "With  the  above  Cash 
two  Tickets  were  accordingly  purchased,  No.  4741  and  No. 
4742." 

During  Dr.  Bronson's  term  as  Principal,  young  ladies 
were  admitted  to  the  Academy  and  many  came  from  other 
towns  to  receive  instruction  here.  Among  them  was  one, 
Mrs.  Polly  Logan  Ford,  of  Washington,  Ct.,  who  so  far  as 
known  was  the  oldest  living  "E.  A.  C."  at  the  time  of  her 
death,  Feb.  28th,  1901. 

Of  the  later  history  of  the  Academy,  not  properly  belong- 
ing to  this  paper,  reference  need  only  be  made  to  its  several 
new  and  commodious  buildings,  its  long  and  honored  list  of 
graduates,  to  prove  that  those  who  labored  for  its  establish- 
ment builded  wisely  and  well,  and  that  the  object  for  which 
the  Academy  was  started  has  not  been  forgotten,  its  pro- 
moters still  believing  "that  the  greatest  good  that  can  be 
done  is  to  educate  the  heart  in  accordance  with  the  teachings 
of  the  Divine  Law." 


Christ  Church,  Tashua 

1760. 

THE  history  of  Christ  Church,  Tashua,  is  not  merely  of 
local  interest,  but  must  be  interesting  to  the  whole 
diocese,  because  Tashua  was  a  part  of  the  first  parish  in  this 
colony. 

In  writing  this  short  history,  I  am  indebted  to  an  old  book 
of  records,  still  in  possession  of  the  parish,  dating  back  to 
1787,  and  an  old  parish  register,  also  to  an  historical  sermon, 
preached  by  Rev.  David  B.  Sanford,  the  rector,  on  the  occa- 
sion of  the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  the  consecration  of 
the  present  church  building.  From  these  sources  I  have 
endeavored  to  cull  and  present  in  the  briefest  form  possible 
the  most  important  facts  connected  with  the  life  of  this 
parish  the  hundred  years  and  more  since  the  first  church 
building  was  erected  and  consecrated  on  these  sacred 
grounds. 

The  first  Episcopal  parish  was  established  in  the  village 
of  Stratford  in  1707,  and  this  was  the  only  church  of  our 
communion  in  this  colony  for  some  years.*  I  will  speak 
incidentally  here  of  the  new  era  that  dawned  upon  our 
church  in  1718,  when  friends  in  England  sent  a  donation  of 
books  to  Yale  College.  These  books  treated  with  great 
ability  of  Episcopacy  and  of  other  distinctive  doctrines. 
They  were  eagerly  read  and  the  result  was  that  the  presi- 
dent, Dr.  Cutler,  the  tutor,  Mr.  Brown,  and  a  former  tutor, 
Mr.  Johnson,  with  one  other  minister,  Mr.  Wetmore, 
declared  for  Episcopacy,  and  soon  went  to  England  to  take 
orders.  Mr.  Johnson  returned  and  settled  in  Stratford  as 
rector  of  the  Episcopal  church,  in  1723.  The  town  of 
Stratford  then  embraced  the  present  towns  of  Stratford, 

*  See  Appendix  A. 


—132— 

Huntington,  Monroe,  Trumbull,  and  Bridgeport.  In  1746 
Rev.  Dr.  Johnson  organized  the  parish  of  St.  Paul's,  Ripton, 
now  Huntington,  and  he  officiated  there  four  Sundays  in  the 
year;  and  his  son,  a  lawyer,  read  service  at  other  times. 

In  1748  they  petitioned  the  venerable  English  "Society 
for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,"  for  a 
clergyman.  I  will  state  here  that  Rev.  Dr.  Johnson  was  the 
first  president  of  King's  College  and  his  son  the  first  president 
of  Columbia  College.  In  1750  the  society  sent  over  to  Rip- 
ton  Rev.  Christopher  Newton.  A  letter  of  his  to  the  Vener- 
able Society,  dated  1760,  is  interesting  as  containing  the 
account  of  the  founding  of  the  parish  at  Tashua,  then  called 
North  Stratford. 

In  speaking  of  his  labors,  he  says :  "I  have  reason  to  think 
there  has  been  good  effect  on  a  number  of  families  about 
eight  and  ten  miles  from  Ripton,  to  whom  I  have  often 
preached — and  of  late  they  have  been  more  ready  to  hear 
than  formerly — and  seem  to  be  religiously  disposed  and 
sensible  of  the  importance  of  attending  public  worship. 
They  have  accordingly  built  a  church  thirty-six  feet  long  and 
twenty-six  feet  wide  and  in  about  six  weeks  so  far  finished  it 
that  we  met  in  it  for  public  worship.  A  large  congregation 
attended."  This  was  the  first  of  the  three  church  buildings 
that  have  been  erected  here.  It  was  seated  with  rough  slab 
boards  and  probably  never  plastered,  for  twenty-seven  years 
afterward  a  committee  was  appointed  to  attend  to  this,  but 
probably  nothing  was  done  because  measures  were  taken 
soon  after  for  the  erection  of  a  new  church.  The  first 
building  stood  within  the  present  church  yard  near  the  north 
gate.  The  first  grave  was  dug  in  the  church  yard  in  1766, 
six  years  after  the  erection  of  the  church.  It  was  the  grave 
of  Mrs.  Eleanor  Morrow.  The  gravestone  of  black  slate  is 
still  standing  near  the  north  gate.  The  grave  was  probably 
dug  directly  in  the  rear  of  the  church. 

Mr.  Newton  says :  "These  people  live  at  a  great  distance 
from  public  worship;  and  others,  it  seems  by  their  conduct, 


—133— 

chose  to  spend  the  Sabbath  in  ^hunting  and  unnecessary 
visits,  and  these  are  not  only  dilatory  in  religious  matters, 
so  that  many  of  them  live  but  little  above  the  Indians,  and 
are  destitute  of  the  comforts  of  life.  This  melancholy  pros- 
pect influenced  some  that  were  able  to  build  a  church — as 
one  declared  to  me,  who  had  been  a  professor  of  the  church 
for  some  years,  that  he  thought  it  his  duty  to  expend  part 
of  his  estate  in  building  a  church  to  prevent  their  becoming 
heathens.  These  people,"  he  adds,  "since  have  attended 
worship  and  seem  very  highly  to  prize  the  worship  of  the 
church,  and  have  desired  me  to  take  the  care  of  them  and  I 
have  preached  every  fourth  Sunday  to  them."  The  mis- 
sionary asked  of  the  Propagation  Society,  in  conclusion,  an 
additional  allowance  for  the  labor  and  expense  of  coming 
hither  from  Ripton  every  fourth  Sunday.  They  granted 
him  £10  per  year,  which  was  continued  probably  to  the  close 
of  the  year  1782,  or  twenty-two  years,  making  the  sum  of 
£220,  or  about  $750,  which  was  bestowed  upon  this  parish 
in  its  infancy  by  their  Christian  brethren  across  the  Atlantic. 
Of  the  missionary  himself,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Johnson,  then  rector 
of  Stratford,  writes  in  the  highest  terms  as  laborious  and 
worthy.  The  first  Episcopal  clergy  labored  zealously  to 
gather  the  neglected  and  scattered.  They  preached  in 
school  houses  and  private  houses  and  visited  from  house  to 
house.  They  catechized  the  children,  distributed  tracts, 
Prayer  Books,  Bibles,  and  other  religious  books  received 
from  the  Society  in  England.  They  were  very  successful,  for 
as  early  as  1760  there  were  in  Connecticut  thirty  Episcopal 
churches  and  fourteen  clergymen.  Three  of  these  churches 
and  two  of  the  clergymen  were  within  the  ancient  limits  of 
the  town  of  Stratford. 

In  1762  Rev.  Mr.  Newton  writes  to  the  Venerable  Society 
in  England  that  he  has  reason  to  bless  God  that  seriousness, 
peace,  and  charity  appear  to  prevail  in  two  parishes;  that 
he  has  at  North  Stratford  and  Stratfield  about  thirty  com- 
municants and  about  one  hundred  at  Ripton. 


—134—       , 

The  present  parish  of  St.  John's,  Bridgeport,  and,  of 
course,  all  of  the  Bridgeport  parishes,  grew  out  of  the  little 
mission  station  at  Stratfield,  which  is  here  spoken  of  as  con- 
taining together  with  this  parish,  then  called  North  Strat- 
ford, thirty  communicants. 

North  Stratford  parish  then  embraced  the  ground  now 
covered  by  Tashua  and  Long  Hill  parishes  and  part  of  the 
parish  of  Monroe.  There  was  no  separate  parish  at  Monroe 
until  after  the  year  1800. 

The  old  Stratfield  church  stood  about  a  mile  and  a  half 
northwest  of  the  present  St.  John's  Church,  Bridgeport,  and 
near  the  old  town  line  of  Stratford  and  Fairfield.  That 
church  remained  there  until  1802.  Soon  after  the  Revolu- 
tionary War  and  the  death  of  Rev.  Mr.  Newton,  the  station 
at  Stratfield  was  connected  with  Fairfield  church  and  so 
remained  until  1827. 

In  July,  1762,  our  parish  sent  to  the  Society  for  the  Propa- 
gation of  the  Gospel  a  letter  of  thanks  for  their  gift  of  a 
folio  Bible  and  Prayer  Book,  for  the  use  of  their  church,  and 
also  for  small  Bibles  and  Prayer  Books  and  Catechisms, 
and  for  the  frequent  and  very  acceptable  administrations  of 
Mr.  Newton,  who,  notwithstanding  the  distance  of  eight  miles 
on  a  bad  road,  and  the  excessive  cold  in  winter  and  heat  in 
summer,  has  been  very  constant  for  several  years,  in  admin- 
istering the  Lord's  Supper  to  them  once  in  two  months,  and 
performing  divine  service  once  in  four  Sundays,  and  in 
catechizing  and  instructing  their  children.  The  large  Bible 
and  Prayer  Book  are  still  in  the  possession  of  the  parish, 
and  are  in  good  condition. 

The  Bible  was  printed  in  London  in  1750,  the  Prayer  Book 
in  1760.  There  are  in  the  Prayer  Book  four  petitions 
added  in  the  Litany,  three  for  King  George  and  one  for 
"Queen  Charlotte,  Her  Royal  Highness  the  Princess  of 
Wales,  and  all  the  Royal  Family" ;  over  these  were  pasted  in 
later  years  the  petitions  "That  it  may  please  thee  to  endue 


—135— 

the  Governor  and  Rulers  of  this  state  with  grace,  wisdom, 
and  understanding. 

"That  it  may  please  Thee  to  bless  and  keep  the  judges  and 
other  magistrates,  giving  them  grace  to  execute  justice  and 
to  maintain  truth." 

There  are  also  special  services  of  prayer  and  thanks- 
giving: one  "For  the  happy  deliverance  of  King  James  and 
the  Three  Estates  of  England,  from  the  most  traitorous  and 
bloody  massacre  by  gunpowder;  and  also  for  the  happy 
arrival  of  his  Majesty,  King  William,  on  this  day,  for  the 
deliverance  of  our  church  and  our  nation" ;  another  to  be 
used  January  3Oth,  "being  the  day  of  the  martyrdom  of  the 
Blessed  King  Charles  the  First" ;  one  for  May  29th,  a 
thanksgiving  for  the  restoration  of  the  Royal  Family;  and 
also  one  for  the  day  on  which  his  "Majesty  began  his  happy 
reign."  The  constitutions  and  canons  are  specially  interest- 
ing, showing  the  quaint  customs  of  those  days. 

One  on  the  dress  of  the  clergy  reads,  "That  all  ecclesiasti- 
cal persons  shall  usually  wear  in  their  journeys  cloaks  with 
sleeves  commonly  called  priest's  cloaks,  without  guards, 
welts,  long  buttons,  or  cuffs.  And  no  ecclesiastical  person 
shall  wear  any  coif  or  wrought  night-cap,  but  only  plain 
night-caps  of  black  silk,  satteen,  or  velvet.  In  private 
houses  and  in  their  studies,  the  said  persons  ecclesiastical 
may  use  any  comely  and  scholar-like  apparel,  provided  that 
it  be  not  cut  or  pinct ;  and  that  in  public  they  go  not  in  their 
doublet  and  hose,  without  coats  or  cassock;  and  that  they 
wear  not  any  light-coloured  stockings.  Likewise  poor 
beneficed  men  and  curates  (not  being  able  to  provide  them- 
selves long  gowns)  may  go  in  short  gowns  of  the  fashion 
aforesaid." 

The  canon  on  the  duty  of  school-masters  show  how  in 
those  days  they  combined  the  religious  and  secular  education 
of  the  children.  It  reads  as  follows:  "All  school-masters 
shall  teach  in  English  or  Latin,  as  the  children  are  able  to 


—136— 

bear,  the  larger  or  shorter  catechism  heretofore  by  public 
authority  set  forth.  And  as  often  as  any  sermon  shall  be 
upon  holy  and  festival  days  within  the  parish  where  they 
teach,  they  shall  bring  their  scholars  to  the  church  where 
such  sermons  shall  be  made,  and  there  see  them  quietly  and 
soberly  behave  themselves ;  and  shall  examine  them  at  times 
convenient  after  their  return,  what  they  have  borne  away  of 
such  sermons. 

"Upon  other  days,  and  at  other  times,  they  shall  train  them 
up  with  such  sentences  of  holy  scriptures,  as  shall  be  most 
expedient  to  induce  them  to  all  Godliness;  and  they  shall 
teach  the  grammar  set  forth  by  King  Henry  the  Eighth  and 
continued  in  the  times  of  King  Edward  the  Sixth,  and 
Queen  Elizabeth  of  noble  memory,  and  none  other."  The 
book  concludes  with  the  whole  Book  of  Psalms  collected  into 
quaint  English  metre. 

In  1764,  Rev.  John  Beach  writes  from  Newtown:  "My 
congregation  at  Redding  has  increased  very  little  for  some 
years  past,  by  reason  that  many  who  were  wont  to  attend 
there,  tho'  living  at  a  distance  of  six,  eight,  or  ten  miles,  have 
lately  built  the  small  churches  nearer  to  them,  where  they  can 
more  conveniently  meet,  viz,  Danbury,  Ridgebury,  North 
Fairfield,  and  North  Stratford,  which  has  very  much 
retarded  the  growth  of  the  congregation  at  Redding.  For- 
merly people  attended  church  at  Redding,  from  such  a  dis- 
tance, that  they  were  obliged  to  frequently  come  to  the  place 
on  Saturday  night  and  stay  at  the  house  of  their  brethren,  in 
order  to  have  the  privilege  of  attending  church  on  the  Lord's 
day." 

The  North  Fairfield  church  was  the  one  aftenvards  known 
as  the  Gilbert-town  Church,  since  divided  into  the  present 
parishes  of  Easton  and  Weston. 

The  parishes  of  Tashua  and  Easton  are  now  connected 
under  one  rector. 


—137— 

Rev.  Mr.  Newton  wrote  to  the  Venerable  Society  in  1766 
that  his  parishes  are  increasing  notwithstanding  the  perils  of 
the  times.  The  perilous  time  to  which  he  refers  was  occa- 
sioned by  the  Stamp  Act  and  other  measures  of  the  British 
government  which  soon  after  caused  the  American  Revolu- 
tion. The  attachment  of  the  Episcopal  clergy  and  people  to 
the  old  country  was  strong,  and  they  were  much  indebted 
there  for  assistance  in  the  support  of  the  Gospel,  and  so  the 
difficulty  of  those  times  pressed  most  heavily  upon  the  faith- 
ful in  the  historic  church. 

Another  hindrance  to  the  growth  of  the  church  at  that 
time  was  the  fact  that  candidates  had  to  go  to  England  to  be 
ordained,  and  few  were  able  to  bear  the  expense,  and  as 
many  as  one  in  ten  of  those  who  undertook  the  voyage  died 
before  they  could  return.  Petitions  for  a  Bishop  were  una- 
vailing because  the  Bishops  of  England  could  not  consecrate 
a  Bishop  from  abroad  without  the  consent  of  Parliament, 
and  that  was  withholden  in  deference  to  the  remonstrances 
of  the  standing  order  of  Congregationalists  in  New  England. 
New  York  and  Connecticut  petitioned  for  Bishops  in  1766, 
and  one  mentioned  was  Rev.  Christopher  Newton,  of  this 
church.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  no  Bishop  was  granted 
the  American  church  until  after  the  Revolution. 

Rev.  Mr.  Sanford  writes :  "I  have  been  able  to  find  no 
report  from  Mr.  Newton  later  than  1766,  but  he  survived 
the  Revolution  and  continued  probably  to  serve  this  parish 
and  Ripton  until  1785,  for  in  the  parish  accounts  there  is  a 
record  of  the  appointment  of  a  committee  to  settle  with  the 
heirs  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Newton  for  services  rendered.  That 
committee  was  appointed  in  1787,  and  Mr.  Newton  must 
have  died  in  or  before  that  year." 

I  will  say  here  that  we  are  indebted  to  Rev.  David  P. 
Sanford  for  many  of  the  statistics  furnished  here,  not  to  be 
found  elsewhere.  He  must  have  had  recourse  to  documents 
not  now  available. 


-138- 

Soon  after  Mr.  Newton's  death,  Rev.  Abraham  L.  Clark, 
who  was  ordained  by  Bishop  Seabury  in  1786,  came  to  this 
parish,  and  was  engaged  to  serve  one  third  of  this  time 
during  his  life. 

In  1788,  it  was  voted  to  build  a  new  church  by  subscrip- 
tion and  Capt.  Abel  Hall,  Nathan  Summers,  and  David 
Mallett  were  appointed  a  building  committee.  Amos  Van 
Nostrand  was  appointed  to  draw  plans  for  the  new  church. 
It  was  not  to  exceed  fifty  feet  in  length  and  thirty  feet  in 
breadth  and  twenty-four  feet  in  height.  There  were  to  be 
twenty- four  windows  of  6  x  8  glass,  thirty  panes  in  each 
window.  The  next  spring  they  obtained  land  for  the  church 
on  the  north  side  of  the  highway.  The  church  was  built 
there  and  remained  until  the  present  edifice  was  erected. 
The  same  year  it  was  voted  to  call  this  parish  Trinity 
Church. 

In  June,  1790,  the  pew-spots  were  sold  at  auction,  each 
buyer  to  build  his  pew  within  a  year.  The  pews  were  to  be 
in  uniform  style,  as  in  the  North  Fairfield  meeting-house. 
There  were  sixteen  square  pews  next  to  the  wall  going 
around  the  building,  except  where  there  were  doors,  gallery 
stairs  and  chancel.  There  were  doors  on  three  sides,  the 
chancel  on  the  south  side,  and  a  tower  and  spire  were  built 
on  the  west  end.  In  the  body  of  the  church  there  were  long 
open  seats  free  to  all. 

The  original  purchasers  of  the  pew  spots  were  Henry 
Beardsley,  Josiah  Sanford,  Isaac  Wakelee,  Zachariah  Mal- 
lett, Nathan  Summers,  Andrew  Lyon,  William  Prince, 
George  Chambers,  Zachariah  Beach,  Joseph  Mallett,  John 
Edwards,  Capt.  Abel  Hall,  William  Osborn,  and  Agur 
Edwards. 

The  church  was  completed  in  1790.  Rev.  Mr.  Clark  con- 
tinued in  charge  until  1792,  when  he  accepted  a  call  to  St. 
John's  Church,  Providence,  R.  I.  He  was  undoubtedly  a 
man  of  note  in  his  day. 


—139— 

The  first  convention  of  this  diocese  of  which  there  is  any 
record  was  in  1792.  This  parish  was  represented  by  Capt. 
Abel  Hall.  After  this  Rev.  Ashbel  Baldwin  officiated  here 
every  third  Sunday  for  many  years.  He  was  one  of  the 
three  ordained  by  Bishop  Seabury  at  the  first  ordination  held 
in  this  country  in  1785.  He  was  a  talented  man  with  a 
powerful  voice,  and  was  called  a  popular  preacher.  He 
was  prominent  in  both  diocesan  and  general  conventions. 
He  officiated  here  regularly  until  1815,  and  at  intervals  until 
1828. 

A  history  that  carries  one  into  the  remote  regions  of  the 
past  must  ever  be  interesting  to  all  men,  and  especially  is  it 
interesting  to  all  Christians,  when  it  recounts  the  triumph  of 
Christianity  from  an  early  date  to  the  present  time. 

The  charm  of  this  narrative  lies  in  the  fact  that  it  portrays 
a  continuous  progress  which  the  historic  Church  made  in  a 
time  when  there  was  a  deep  seated  prejudice  against  her, 
amounting  almost  to  hatred,  on  account  of  her  connection 
with  the  mother  country,  then  at  arms  against  the  American 
colony. 

We  are  thankful  to-day  that  she  has  weathered  the  gale, 
and  that  by  her  good  works,  her  beauty  and  her  holiness,  she 
is  making  a  steady  advance  in  winning  the  love  of  the 
American  people ;  and  that  she  is  constantly  gaining  ground 
and  preparing  to  take  her  proper  position  as  "The  American 
Church." 


— 140 — 

St.  James's,  Danbury 

1762. 

early  history  of  this  parish,  gathered  from  various 
J-  sources,  is  substantially  as  follows.  In  1727  the  Rev. 
Henry  Caner,  a  graduate  of  Yale,  went  to  England  for  Holy 
Orders,  and  on  his  return  in  the  autumn  of  that  year,  became  a 
missionary  to  Fairfield.  He  sought  out  the  Churchmen  in  the 
adjacent  regions,  and  in  his  first  report  to  the  Society  for  the 
Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,  in  the  year  1 728, 
he  mentions  a  village  to  the  northwest  of  Fairfield,  about  18 
miles,  containing  20  families.  This  is  Chestnut  (now  Red- 
ding) Ridge.  He  also  mentions  Ridgefield  and  Danbury, 
and  visited  these  places  where  he  found  ten  or  fifteen  families 
professing  the  doctrines  of  the  Church  of  England. 

About  1763  the  first  church  building  was  erected  in  Dan- 
bury  and  on  its  partial  completion  was  opened  by  the  Rev. 
Ebenezer  Dibblee,  a  native  of  Danbury,  and  a  missionary  to 
Stamford  and  Greenwich.  Occasional  services  were  held 
here  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Learning  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Beach  of 
Newtown.  In  1769  the  missionary  at  Newtown  speaks  of 
the  new  church  at  Danbury  as  "with  a  decent  steeple,  and 
large  enough  to  accommodate  400  to  500  people."  This 
"decent  steeple"  was  given  by  John  McLean,  a  notable  citi- 
zen of  Danbury.  In  1777,  at  the  burning  of  Danbury,  Gen- 
eral Tryon  and  his  troops  took  the  military  stores  from  the 
church  and  burned  them,  but  saved  the  sacred  edifice.  In 
1797  the  Rev.  David  Perry  of  Ridgefield  resigned  the  pas- 
toral charge  of  Ridgefield,  Redding,  and  Danbury.  The 
Rev.  David  Butler  succeeded  him  and  the  Rev.  Elijah  G. 
Plum  was  rector  from  1808  to  1812.  On  October  6th,  1802, 
the  church  was  consecrated  by  Bishop  Jarvis.  This  build- 
ing was  occupied  until  1844,  when  it  was  abandoned  and  a 
new  building  erected  on  the  site  of  the  present  fine  stone 
church. 


—Hi— 

Christ  Church,  Hartford 

1762. 

THE  Colonial  history  of  Christ  Church,  Hartford,  which 
I  set  out  to  write,  appears  upon  investigation  not  to 
exist,  strictly  speaking.  Until  a  number  of  years  after  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  there  was  no  church  building,  no 
Rector,  not  even  a  regular  supply,  and  only  a  very  weak  and 
temporary  parochial  association.  The  story  of  that  associa- 
tion— such  as  it  was — consists  principally  of  a  none  too 
edifying  struggle  with  the  established  Congregationalism. 
A  struggle  graphically  depicted  in  a  certain  local  legend  con- 
cerning the  erection  of  the  first  Church  building.  Even  in 
Connecticut,  after  a  scant  three  hundred  years  of  occupation, 
we  have  our  own  legends,  well  worthy  of  preservation  and 
far  more  easy  to  remember  than  the  dislocated  dry  bones  of 
historical  details.  Thus  runs  this  story,  told  to  me  years  ago 
by  an  old  resident  of  Hartford : 

Near  the  end  of  the  i8th  century  the  Episcopalians  of  our 
city  became  numerous  enough  to  undertake  building  a 
church.  They  bought  a  lot  on  the  west  side  of  Main  Street, 
including  what  is  now  the  head  of  Church  Street,  as  well  as 
the  site  of  the  present  church,  and  being  too  poor  to  hire 
help,  such  of  the  men  as  owned  wagons  hauled  stones  all  day 
to  build  a  foundaticfn.  By  evening  enough  for  the  purpose 
were  deposited  on  the  proposed  sight,  the  volunteer  teamsters 
retired  to  rest  well  satisfied,  and  planning  to  convert  them- 
selves into  stone  masons  on  the  morrow.  Then  the  outraged 
Congregationalists  took  their  turn,  hitched  up  their  wagons, 
and  spent  the  whole  night  in  hauling  the  stone  to  the  bank 
of  the  big  river  and  dumping  it  into  the  channel.  Next 
morning  not  one  stone  was  to  be  found,  and  the  intended 
builders  deemed  it  prudent  to  postpone  their  design  for  a 
period  of  years. 


— 142 — 

This  legend — like  most  others — while  not  strictly  accord- 
ant with  the  facts  of  authentic  history,  does  fully  express 
their  spirit,  and  that  in  a  far  more  concise  and  picturesque 
form  than  the  real  story,  which,  nevertheless,  I  am  here 
bound  briefly  to  repeat. 

Some  have  thought  that  almost  from  the  first  a  few  mem- 
bers of  the  Church  of  England  were  included  in  Hooker's 
colony,  since  some  thirty  years  after  its  foundation  certain 
citizens  appealed  to  the  General  Assembly  for  relief ;  setting 
forth  that  inasmuch  as  the  pastors  of  the  neighboring 
churches  refused  alike  to  baptize  their  children  and  admit 
themselves  to  the  Communion,  they,  the  petitioners,  prayed 
to  be  no  longer  obliged  by  law  to  contribute  toward  the 
support  of  said  pastors,  who  were  no  pastors  to  them. 

Whether  they  were  so  relieved  I  know  not.  Tolerated  at 
least  they  were,  since  about  an  hundred  years  later,  in  1762, 
they  had  gained  sufficiently  in  actual  numbers,  and — even 
more  essential  point — in  the  estimation  of  their  fellow  towns- 
men, to  contemplate  the  organization  of  a  parish.  At  that 
time  Hartford,  notwithstanding  her  official  prominence, 
stood  numerically  below  many  other  towns  in  the  state,  the 
population  dwelling  within  what  are  now  the  city  limits  num- 
bering less  than  two  thousand  souls.  A  small  village  that 
would  make  to-day.  Being  so  small  and  at  the  same  time 
such  a  stronghold  of  Congregationalism,  the  S.  P.  G.  declined 
to  assist  the  infant  association  as  it  assisted  the  other 
parishes  in  the  state,  alleging  that  more  good  could  be  done 
elsewhere;  so,  although  a  church  site  had  been  purchased, 
a  stone  foundation  prepared,  two-thirds  of  the  necessary 
support  subscribed — and  not  only  the  few  communicants  but 
a  number  of  dissenters  as  well  were  described  as  "very 
zealous"  in  the  cause — matters  progressed  no  further  than 
occasional  services  held  and  sacraments  performed  by  the 
missioners  from  Simsbury  and  Middletown. 

Naturally  enthusiasm  waned,  sympathizers  dropped  away, 
then,  as  the  agitation  against  the  mother  country  increased, 


—143— 

political  animosity  joined  hands  with  ecclesiastical  against 
her  church,  until  services  ceased  altogether,  not  only  in 
Hartford  but  elsewhere,  because  it  was  judged  too  dangerous 
to  hold  them. 

Now  the  famous  stones  had  been  left  on  that  Main  street 
lot  much  longer  than  overnight,  so  a  certain  well-to-do,  influ- 
ential, and  bigoted  Congregationalist,  having  acquired  a 
doubtful  title  to  a  portion  of  the  land,  carted  off,  assisted  by 
a  mob,  the  building  stone,  not  indeed  to  dump  into  the 
river,  but  to  make  for  himself  a  cellar.  This  aroused  some 
of  the  dormant  churchmen :  he  was  charged  with  trespass, 
the  case  carried  to  several  courts,  and,  doubts  having  risen 
about  the  influence  of  the  trespasser,  finally  decided  in  favor 
of  the  church. 

Then,  when  the  colonies  were  really  free,  and  the  Tories 
— amongst  whom  to  be  just  one  must  number  most  American 
churchmen — no  longer  formed  a  danger  to  the  state,  public 
opinion  became  more  mild,  a  larger  association  was  estab- 
lished in  Hartford,  and,  after  considerable  financial  diffi- 
culty, a  small  wooden  church  was  finished  in  1795  and  a 
resident  rector  secured  in  1801. 

That  is  now  100  years  ago.  In  this  century's  time  Christ 
Church  has  inhabited  three  houses  of  worship,  each  much 
larger  than  its  predecessor,  while  substantially  on  the  same 
ground ;  has  given  six  of  her  rectors  to  the  Episcopate,  and 
is  acknowledged  the  "mother  church"  of  all  the  parishes  in 
the  city. 

A  century  ago  our  dissenting  neighbors  carried  off  our 
building  stone  to  make  themselves  houses  thereof :  now  they 
adopt  copious  selections  from  our  ritual  to  decorate  their 
service  withal ;  and  imitation — ancient  wisdom  assures  us — 
is  the  sincerest  flattery. 

[Facts  taken  almost  entirely  from,  and  in  no  case  contradicted  by, 
Dr.  Russell's  History  of  the  Parish.— F.  W.  C.] 


—144— 

*  Extracts  from  a  historical  sermon  preached  in  Christ  Church, 
Hartford,  Conn.,  by  Rev.  Hermann  Lilienthal,  M.A.,  February  9, 
1902. 

The  beginnings  of  Christ  Church  parish  date  back  to  1762,  when 
the  Rev.  Thomas  Davies,  a  graduate  of  Yale,  and  a  missionary  of 
the  S.  P.  G.,  was  invited  to  hold  a  service  in  Hartford.  This  he  did 
some  time  between  January  and  April,  and  in  October  of  this  same 
year  certain  adherents  of  the  Church  of  England  associated  them- 
selves together,  and  for  £80  bought  a  piece  of  land  on  what  is  now 
the  northeast  corner  of  Church  street.  Stones  were  purchased,  and 
a  foundation  was  laid  for  a  church,  but  a  period  of  depression  set 
in,  and  the  few  Episcopalians  found  themselves  unable  to  raise  money 
sufficient  to  erect  a  church.  Further,  they  had  to  contend  with  the 
bitter  prejudice  of  Congregationalists  and  Presbyterians,  who  were 
strongly  opposed  to  what  they  deemed  "prelatical"  churches,  and 
hindered  their  establishment  by  all  means  possible.  To  add  to  the 
distress  of  this  little  band,  one  of  them  illegally  sold  the  lot  that  had 
been  bought,  and  the  purchaser,  relying  on  his  legal  rights,  entered 
the  property,  "broke  up  the  foundations  of  the  church,  and  carried 
away  the  stones,  which  he  used  for  the  foundation  of  a  house  he  was 
then  building."  The  land  eventually  was  restored  in  1785  to  the 
"professors  of  the  Episcopal  Church,"  but  not  until  they  had  paid 
£60  additional  for  renewed  possession. 


Christ  Church,  Easton 

1763. 

THERE  are  very  few  records  of  the  early  history  of  the 
old  Gilbert-town  Church,  as  the  old  church  in  Easton 
was  called.     The  record  reads  as  follows : 

"At  a  general  assembly  of  the  Governor  and  company  of 
His  Majesties  English  Colony  of  Connecticut  holden  at  New 
Haven  in  said  colony  on  the  2nd  Thursday  of  October  Anno 
Domini  1761, 

Whereas,  upon  the  memorial  of  John  Gilbert  and  others, 
inhabitants  of  the  parish  of  Greenfield  and  of  the  parish  of 


—145— 

Stratfield  and  North  Stratford,  all  in  the  county  of  Fairfield, 
praying  to  be  made  a  distinct  ecclesiastical  society.  The 
General  Assembly  holden  at  Hartford  in  May,  1762,  did 
appoint  Comfort  Starr,  Richard  Fairman,  and  Joseph  Clatt, 
Esq.  a  committee  to  repair  to  and  view  the  circumstances  of 
the  memorialists  and  make  report  to  this  assembly,  which 
committee  have  reported  that  the  inhabitants  being  within 
the  following  bounds  and  limits," — the  record  goes  on  to  give 
the  exact  bounds  of  the  parish.  "Resolved  by  this  Assem- 
bly, That  the  memorialists  and  all  other  inhabitants  living 
within  the  limits  and  boundaries  aforementioned  be  and  they 
are  hereby  made  and  constituted  a  distinct  ecclesiastical 
society,  with  all  the  powers,  privileges  and  immunities  by 
law  belonging  to  the  other  ecclesiastical  societies  in  this  col- 
ony, and  shall  be  called  and  known  by  the  name  of  the 
society  of  North  Fairfield." 

The  church  building  was  raised  November,  1762.  The 
parish  was  organized  as  early  as  1763  under  the  care  of  the 
London  Missionary  Society,  and  was  supplied  with  minis- 
terial services  by  it  for  about  20  years.  Rev.  Philo  Shelton, 
the  first  Episcopal  minister  ordained  in  the  United  States, 
was  then  called  as  rector  in  1784  and  continued  until  1818. 
The  first  church  edifice  was  a  rude  structure  and  was  never 
completely  finished.  It  was  never  plastered  in  the  inside  and 
never  painted.  It  had  large  galleries  on  three  sides  and  in 
early  days  was  always  filled.  It  stood  until  about  1850. 
There  are  a  few  people  still  living  in  what  was  then  North 
Stratford,  now  Tashua  parish,  who  can  remember  going  in 
large  sleigh  loads  to  the  Gilbert-town  Church  to  Illumination, 
as  the  Christmas  eve  service  was  called.  The  church  was 
decorated  with  Christmas  greens  and  lighted  throughout 
with  candles ;  candles  being  arranged  in  all  the  small  panes 
of  glass  of  the  windows  above  and  below  the  galleries,  mak- 
ing the  church  beautiful  without  and  within.  It  was  known 
as  the  North  Fairfield  Episcopal  Church  at  Gilbert-town. 


— 146 — 

In  1873  a  new  chapel  was  built  near  the  academy  at 
Easton  center,  the  old  parish  having  been  divided  into  Easton 
and  Weston  parishes.  The  chapel  at  Easton  has  always 
been  rather  a  missionary  station  than  an  independent  parish. 
It  has  a  fund  which  was  given  as  a  memorial  of  the  Rev. 
Philo  Shelton,  first  rector  of  the  church  from  1784  to  1812. 
This  chapel  is  open  every  Sunday  for  service  and  is  kept  in 
good  repair.  The  exterior  is  being  painted  this  summer. 

St.  Andrew's,  Northford,  1763 

(No  paper.) 

St.  Peter's,  Oxford 

1764  (1769) 

IT  appears  from  the  records  of  Derby  that  before  1764 
Episcopal  services  were  held  in  Oxford,  and  that  it  was 
regarded  as  a  Mission  of  the  Parish  of  Derby,  and  that  the 
minister  from  Derby  either  went  to  Oxford  occasionally  or 
sent  a  supply. 

In  1764  it  was  decided  to  make  this  mission  into  a  parish, 
giving  it  the  name  of  S.  Peter's  Parish. 

The  Rev.  Richard  Mansfield  assisted  in  forming  the  parish. 

At  first  services  were  held  in  private  houses,  but  before 
long  a  small  church  was  built  on  "Governor's  Hill."  Land 
was  given  to  the  Episcopal  Society  by  Joseph  Davis  of 
Derby,  and  in  1770  the  church  was  completed  and  service 
held. 

A  cemetery  was  also  prepared  by  the  side  of  the  church 
on  Governor's  Hill. 

In  1832  the  first  church  was  taken  down  and  removed  to 
the  Green,  and  when  built  was  a  much  more  suitable  build- 
ing than  the  former  one.  In  1835  the  parish  was  visited  by 
Bishop  Brownell  and  the  church  was  then  dedicated  by  him. 

The  Rev.  Chas.  Smith  was  rector  at  the  time  of  the  visit 
by  Bishop  Brownell. 


—147— 

Christ  Church,  Watertown 

1764. 

WATERTOWN  was  originally  a  part  of  Waterbury 
(Waterbury  included  the  whole  or  parts  of  seven 
of  the  now  surrounding  towns,  and  was  considered  suffi- 
ciently large  to  support  thirty  families).  For  many  years 
no  settlements  were  made  in  the  outlying  country,  the 
danger  from  Indians  leading  the  people  to  settle  closely 
together ;  but  later,  as  the  colony  grew  stronger,  some  of  the 
descendants  settled  within  the  limits  of  the  present  Water- 
town,  and,  in  1739,  a  society  was  organized  by  the  name  of 
Westbury. 

In  1759  the  Rev.  James  Scovill  was  sent  by  the  Society  of 
the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,  to  the 
Waterbury  Mission.  He  resided  at  Waterbury  and  offici- 
ated one-half  of  the  time  there  and  the  other  half  at  North- 
bury  and  New  Cambridge  (now  Plymouth  and  Bristol). 
Family  tradition  states  that  Mr.  Scovill  was  born  at  West- 
bury,  in  the  part  called  Nova  Scotia  Hill.  He  was  educated 
at  Yale  and  went  to  England  for  ordination.  Through  the 
labors  o£  Mr.  Scovill,  the  number  of  Churchmen  within  the 
limits  of  his  mission  so  greatly  increased  that  a  separate 
parish  was  formed  in  Westbury.  This  was  in  1764,  when 
twenty  people  agreed  to  hold  worship  in  Westbury  on  those 
Sundays  when  there  was  no  preaching  in  Waterbury,  and 
also  to  make  arrangements  to  erect  an  Episcopal  church  in 
Westbury.  They  met  in  the  house  of  James  Doolittle  in 
winter,  and  of  Ensign  David  Scott  in  the  summer. 

In  the  following  May,  1765,  the  first  Episcopal  church  was 
erected,  on  a  piece  of  ground  donated  for  the  purpose,  by 
Capt.  George  Nichols  of  Waterbury.  It  was  near  the 
present  old  cemetery,  the  business  part  of  the  town  being 


— 148— 

in  that  locality  years  ago.  The  building  was  45  by  36  feet, 
with  a  steeple.  In  the  latter  part  of  October  it  was  so  far 
completed,  that  services  were  held  in  it.  It  was  named 
Christ's  Church.  The  Rev.  Samuel  Andrews  delivered  the 
dedicatory  sermon.  An  arrangement  was  made  by  which 
Mr.  Scovill  was  to  officiate  every  sixth  Sunday.  This  con- 
tinued until  1771,  when  the  parish  had  grown  so  strong  that 
a  new  arrangement  was  made.  Mr.  Scovill  agreeing  to  give 
one-third  of  his  time  to  the  Westbury  Mission. 

The  society  continued  to  prosper,  and  in  1773  .they  finished 
the  lower  part  of  the  church,  together  with  the  pulpit,  chan- 
cel, canopy,  etc. ;  but  they  never  entirely  completed  the 
building,  for  the  war  between  the  mother  country  and  the 
colonies  began,  and  most  of  the  Episcopal  clergy  in  Connec- 
ticut suffered — they  being  opposed  to  the  war.  A  Presby- 
terian deacon  said  publicly,  "that  if  the  colonies  carried  their 
point,  there  would  not  be  a  church  (English)  in  the  New 
England  States."  The  windows  of  Christ's  Church  were 
demolished  and  the  principal  members  were  confined  to  their 
farms,  and  not  allowed  to  attend  public  worship.  There  is 
a  tradition  that  Mr.  Scovill  was  imprisoned  in  his  barn  for 
several  weeks,  to  escape  persecution  as  a  Tory.  He  had  the 
courage  to  stay  with  his  people  through  the  war,  though  it  is 
believed  he  did  not  preach.  After  the  war,  the  church  people 
were  much  discouraged,  but  in  a  few  years  they  again  pros- 
pered and  built  another  church.  The  present  Christ's 
Church  was  built  in  1854,  and  the  parish  continues  to 
prosper. 


—149— 

St.  George's   (now  St.   Peter's)   Church,   Milford 

1764. 

r  I  ^HE  story  of  the  church  in  Milford  during  the  Colonial 
•JL       period  is  the  story  of  a  struggle  with  adverse  circum- 
stances. 

The  first  glimpse  of  the  field  in  this  town  is  given  us  in  a 
letter  written  September  22,  1736,  to  the  Secretary  of  the 
Society  by  the  Rev.  Thomas  Arnold,  an  itinerant  missionary, 
in  which  he  reports :  "Last  Sunday  I  performed  divine  ser- 
vice in  Milford,  one  of  the  most  considerable  towns  in 
Connecticut  Colony,  where  the  use  of  the  Lord's  Prayer,  the 
Creed,  and  the  ten  Commandments,  or  the  reading  the  Scrip- 
ture in  divine  service  was  never  before  known.  There  was 
a  very  numerous  auditory,  most  attentive  and  desirous  to  be 
instructed  in  the  worship  of  the  Church  of  England.  Those 
who  are  looking  toward  the  Church  are  commonly  the 
poorer  sort  of  people." 

On  January  27,  1764,  Edward  Allen  and  thirty  others 
from  Milford,  being  desirous  to  worship  God  according  to 
the  established  form  of  the  Church  of  England,  drew  up 
and  signed  an  obligation  taxing  themselves  one  penny  upon 
the  pound  on  the  list  of  1763,  to  be  appropriated  to  the  use 
of  procuring  and  supporting  the  reading  of  divine  service 
in  Milford.  An  additional  sum  of  eleven  pounds  was  also 
subscribed  for  the  same  object.  As  a  result  of  the  above 
subscriptions,  Mr.  Richard  Clark,  a  gentleman  of  liberal 
education,  and  a  candidate  for  Holy  Orders,  was  engaged  to 
read  divine  service  at  the  rate  of  twenty  pounds  per  annum. 
At  a  meeting  held  July  26,  1765,  it  was  agreed  by  way  of 
donation  to  have  Mr.  Clark  board  around  among  the  Church 
people,  remaining  quarterly  with  each  family.  An  applica- 
tion to  the  Society  to  have  Mr.  Clark  appointed  with  a  salary 


_i  5o— 

as  catechist  at  Milford  is  declined,  by  the  Rev.  Dan  Burton, 
in  a  well-preserved  letter  now  on  file  among  the  church 
papers  in  Milford. 

In  October,  1765,  St.  George  Talbot,  a  charitable  and 
well-to-do  layman  of  New  York,  came  to  Milford  and  gave 
his  note  for  four  hundred  pounds  to  the  professors  of  the 
Episcopal  church,  payable  to  them  at  his  decease,  on  condi- 
tion that  they  erect  a  house  for  the  purpose  of  public  worship, 
which  they  did  in  June,  1770,  and  named  it  St.  George's 
Church,  in  memory  of  the  donor.  Though  at  this  time  the 
building  was  merely  enclosed  and  provided  with  windows, 
lay  reading,  by  Mr.  Tingley  of  New  York,  was  provided 
under  the  direction  of  Dr.  Johnson.  In  1774  Dr.  Kneeland 
of  Stratford  took  charge  of  the  parish  and  officiated  every 
fifth  Sunday  until  November,  1776,  when  Dr.  Johnson 
became  rector. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Wardens  and  Vestry  and  other  mem- 
bers of  the  parish,  in  March,  1775,  authority  was  given  to 
any  member  to  build  a  pew,  of  which  "he  must  keep  a  just 
and  true  account,  and  might  use  the  pew  for  the  interest  of 
his  money.  If  disposed  to  sell,  the  wardens  or  vestry  were 
to  have  the  prior  right  to  purchase  at  the  original  cost.  If 
they  refuse  to  purchase,  then  any  member  might  have  the 
opportunity. 

In  the  month  of  March,  1775,  the  church  building  was 
dedicated  by  the  Rev.  Bela  Hubbard  of  New  Haven, 
assisted  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Kneeland  and  the  Rev.  Richard 
Mansfield  of  Derby,  and  a  numerous  auditory  was  convened 
on  that  occasion. 

A  severe  disaster  now  befell  the  little  struggling  church. 
Mr.  Talbot  died  and  a  large  portion  of  his  bequest  was  paid 
in  depreciated  continental  money  to  Major  David  Baldwin, 
a  warden,  who  did  not  dare  to  refuse  the  same  for  fear  of 
personal  abuse,  and  a  large  sum  was  lost  to  the  church.  The 
name  of  the  church  was  thereupon  changed  to  St.  Peter's. 


From  1776  to  1786  during  the  Revolutionary  War,  there 
was  seldom  any  assembling  in  the  church  either  for  prayer 
or  for  preaching,  and  matters  were  in  a  very  depressed  con- 
dition. In  1786  the  Rev.  Henry  Van  Dyke  officiated  one 
year,  succeeded  by  the  Rev.  John  R.  Marshall,  both  zealous 
missionaries  of  the  Society.  From  this  time  to  the  close  of 
the  century  we  find  very  little  more  of  interest  to  record. 

I  will  close  by  mentioning  the  fact  that  in  building  the  new 
beautiful  stone  church  of  St.  Peter's  in  1848,  respect  and 
honor  to  the  memory  of  Dr.  Johnson  were  shown  by  placing 
a  full-length  representation  of  him  in  the  stained  glass  win- 
dow in  the  chancel. 


Trinity  Church,  Brooklyn 

1770. 

THE  history  of  Trinity  Church,  Brooklyn,  is  one  of 
many  vicissitudes.  Its  beginning  in  1769-70  was  a 
protest  against  the  tyranny  of  the  local  establishment,  which 
tried  to  compel  Colonel  Malbone,  a  landholder  and  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Church  of  England,  to  pay  taxes  for  the  building 
of  a  new  meeting-house.  His  assessment  was  two  hundred 
pounds,  an  eighth  of  the  entire  cost.  Such  a  sum  was  an 
outrageous,  though  legal,  imposition.  He  protested  against 
the  demand,  but  was  answered,  "Build  we  shall,  and  you  shall 
bear  your  part.  You  Churchmen  make  us  pay  elsewhere, 
and  you  shall  pay  here."  He  resorted  to  the  only  possible 
measure  of  relief,  by  himself  building  a  church;  as  a 
Colonial  law  would  then  permit  the  Society  taxes  to  go  for 
the  support  of  Church  services.  Some  twenty  heads  of 
families  were  secured,  all  persons  of  moderate  circumstances, 


—  1 52— 

who  signed  a  declaration  of  conformity  to  the  Church  of 
England,  with  the  condition  that  Col.  Malbone  would  build 
a  Church,  and  get  a  missionary  established. 

Thus,  in  November,  1769,  this  parish  was  organized. 
Considerable  help  was  given  from  abroad ;  one  of  the  people 
gave  a  lot.  The  plan  was  from  a  recollection  of  other  edi- 
fices, especially  King's  Chapel,  Boston.  Col.  Malbone  calls 
it  "neat,  plain,  and  elegant,"  46  by  30  feet.  It  was  raised 
in  June,  1770,  and  the  work  went  on  with  fair  speed  to 
completion.  The  chief  burden  fell  on  Col.  Malbone,  a  heavy 
one,  as  he  was  determined  to  have  no  debt,  and  was  often 
seriously  distressed  to  meet  the  payments.  However  he 
struggled  on,  the  building  was  finished,  and  entirely  paid  for. 
He  named  it  Trinity  Church,  for  his  old  Parish  Church  of 
Trinity,  Newport,  R.  I.  The  altar  was  at  the  east  wall  of 
the  church.  The  pulpit  surmounted  by  a  sounding  board, 
and  the  reading  desk  and  clerk's  desk  were  a  third  down  the 
alley.  The  Bible  was  a  folio  Baskett  edition  of  1759,  and 
is  still  in  perfect  preservation,  and  used  at  all  services  in  the 
church.  While  the  church  was  building,  Colonel  Malbone 
read  the  service  on  Sundays  in  his  own  house,  with  a  ser- 
mon, substituting  for  the  Absolution,  a  prayer  from  the 
Commination  Office.  He  apologizes  for  invading  the  sacred 
office  of  the  priesthood  by  pleading  the  need  of  instructing 
the  new  pledged  Churchmen  in  the  service,  "most  of  them 
being  as  ignorant  of  it,  as  so  many  Iroquois."  He  dis- 
tributed devotional  books,  "especially  those  preparatory  to 
the  Lord's  Supper."  In  February,  1771,  one  of  the  services 
held  in  Mr.  Ashcraft's  house  (still  standing),  so  many  came 
they  were  obliged  to  sit  in  each  others  laps,  "an  infant 
congregation  lusty  for  its  age." 

April  1 2th,  1771,  the  church  was  formally  opened  by 
Rev.  Mr.  Tyler  of  Norwich,  Rev.  Samuel  Peters  of  Hebron 
present  and  assisting.  The  sermon  was  on  the  Sanctity  of 
the  Christian  Temple.  Mr.  Tyler  remained  several  days, 


—153— 

and  on  one  of  them  baptized  the  infant  daughter  of  the 
church  warden,  Dr.  Walton;  some  outsider  made  a  rhyme 
on  the  occasion  of  which  the  following  is  a  verse: 

Last  Wednesday  sen'night — don't  be  surprised — 

Miss  Polly  Walton  was  baptized. 

The  good  old  Colonel  sponsor  stood, 

T'  insure  the  infant  should  be  good. 

His  lady  too  and  Mrs.  Aplin 

All  did  their  parts,  so  did  the  Chaplain. 

Through  five  months  following,  Parson  Tyler,  as  he  was 
called,  officiated  occasionally;  the  rest  of  the  time  Colonel 
Malbone  himself.  It  was  difficult  to  procure  a  missionary. 
The  Venerable  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel 
had  determined  some  years  before  not  to  establish  any  new 
missions  in  New  England,  but  finally  by  the  urgency  of 
Malbone's  friends,  Dr.  Caner  and  the  Bishop  of  Durham, 
Dr.  Egerton,  they  granted  a  stipend  of  thirty  pounds  if  the 
people  would  raise  as  much  more. 

In  September,  1771,  a  Rev.  Mr.  Mosely  applied  for  the 
place,  but  "his  manners  were  too  free  to  be  suitable."  In 
his  stead,  Rev.  Dr.  Caner  and  the  worthy  Mr.  Learning 
and  others  recommended  the  Rev.  Daniel  Fogg,  who  was 
then  officiating  as  assistant  to  Dr.  Caner  in  Bath,  North 
Carolina.  Mr.  Fogg  came  in  April,  1772.  There  were 
twenty-five  families  belonging  to  the  church  then,  and  their 
number  steadily  increased  until  the  Revolution.  The 
Church  was  closed  during  that  time.  Mr.  Fogg  and  his 
brethren  could  not  omit  the  prayers  for  the  Royal  Family, 
on  account  of  their  Ordination  vows.  Services  were  con- 
ducted, however,  throughout  the  war  in  Colonel  Malbone's 
house  in  the  presence  of  a  few  persevering  Church  people. 
There  were  thoughts  of  putting  a  stop  to  these  services,  but 
Colonel  Malbone  being  popular  with  his  neighbors,  and 
taking  no  part  in  the  contest,  they  let  him  alone.  Near 
the  close  of  the  war,  1782,  the  missionary  petitioned  the 


-154— 

Assembly  for  leave  to  go  to  New  York  to  collect  the 
seven  years  arrearages  of  his  missionary  stipend.  It  was 
not  given  him.  When  the  war  was  ended,  the  clergy  were 
absolved  from  the  claims  of  English  allegiance  and  pub- 
lic services  were  resumed.  The  Church  had  one  firm 
supporter  in  the  founder,  Colonel  Malbone,  but  he  could  do 
little  more  than  give  the  minister  a  home.  The  friends  of 
the  Church  were  few,  and  his  support  was  scanty.  In  1785, 
Colonel  Malbone  died,  seemingly  near  a  death-blow  to  all 
hopes  of  continuance.  He  was  a  man  of  great  strength  of 
intellect  and  very  highly  cultivated.  Numerous  anecdotes  of 
Malbone's  eccentricities  have  floated  down  the  stream  of 
time.  Tradition  says  that  once  when  called  upon  to  attend 
a  dissenting  meeting,  he  caused  twelve  oxen  to  be  yoked  to 
a  sled,  their  horns  decorated  with  ribbons,  a  slave  with  each 
yoke  of  oxen,  and  he  himself  rode  in  state  to  the  meeting- 
house, mounted  in  a  chair  upon  the  sled.  At  another  time 
he  received  a  deputation  of  some  village  people,  who  came 
to  give  him  some  orders  as  to  his  conduct,  by  placing  himself 
between  them  and  marching  them  up  to  a  mirror  saying: 
"Look  here,  Do  you  suppose  the  Almighty  made  such  as  you 
to  lord  it  over  me?"  They  slunk  away  in  silence,  and 
troubled  him  no  farther.  He  was  always  ready  to  befriend 
a  needy  neighbor.  Someone  in  his  presence  expressed  much 
sympathy  for  a  poor  man  who  had  lost  his  cow.  How  much 
are  you  sorry?  His  informant  hesitated,  "Well,  I  am  sorry 
twenty  dollars,"  he  said,  taking  the  amount  from  his  pocket- 
book. 

After  the  death  of  Colonel  Malbone,  Mr.  Fogg  meditated 
removal,  but  being  persuaded  that  it  would  be  ruinous  to  all 
hope  of  further  life  to  the  struggling  parish,  he  put  away 
that  thought  forever,  and  labored  on  as  best  he  might.  His 
salary  was  less  than  forty  pounds  a  year,  and  was  paid 
mostly  in  kind.  So  many  were  the  legs  of  veal  and  quar- 
ters of  mutton  that  his  wife  was  sore  bestead  how  to  dispose 


—155— 

of  them.  His  farm  produce  and  prudent  husbandry  and 
housewifery  helped  him  to  a  comfortable  living,  but  his 
successor  he  feared,  without  these  helps,  would  hardly  obtain 
a  subsistence.  So  he  urged  the  endowment  of  a  fund  for 
the  support  of  the  minister.  $2,000  were  pledged,  but  never 
realized,  and  after  Mr.  Fogg's  death  the  subscribers  mostly 
declared  they  only  did  it  to  please  the  "Old  Gentleman,"  and 
it  fell  through. 

Mr.  Fogg  was  one  of  the  ten  clergymen  who  met  at  Wood- 
bury  and  chose  Seabury  to  the  Episcopate,  and  the  only 
definite  information  concerning  the  action  they  took  in  the 
matter  is  in  a  letter  from  him  to  Parker,  afterwards  Bishop 
of  Massachusetts.  "We  clergy,"  he  writes,  "have  even  gone 
so  far  as  to  instruct  Dr.  Seabury,  if  none  of  the  regular 
Bishops  of  the  Church  of  England  will  ordain  him,  to  go 
down  to  Scotland,  and  receive  Ordination  from  nonjuring 
Bishops." 

In  1791  Bishop  Seabury  visited  this  church,  and  con- 
firmed several.  Once  again  he  officiated  in  the  Rector's 
absence.  Bishop  Jarvis  also  visited  the  parish.  No  names 
are  given  of  the  confirmed.  One  convention  report,  1812, 
says:  Communicants,  27;  baptisms,  adults,  i;  infants,  10; 
burials,  2.  At  Mr.  Fogg's  death,  he  left  31  communicants. 
He  died  in  1815,  after  a  rectorship  of  more  than  43  years. 

In  1865  expediency  dictated  that  the  Church  should  be 
nearer  the  centre  of  population,  so  a  new  church  building 
was  planned  and  the  cornerstone  laid  June  gth,  1865.  The 
last  service  in  the  old  church  was  held  on  Easter  Day, 
1866,  and  on  April  4th  the  new  church  was  consecrated  by 
Bishop  Williams,  who  preached  the  sermon  on  the  occasion. 
The  old  building  still  remains  in  perfect  preservation,  and 
occasional  services  are  held  in  it.  Annually  on  All  Saints' 
Day,  her  widely  scattered  children  assemble  in  her  time- 
honored  walls  to  thank  God  for  those  departed  in  this  faith 
and  fear,  and  in  the  Holy  Eucharist  enjoy  the  communion 


-156- 

of  saints,  and  the  hope  of  the  life  everlasting.  The  graves 
of  those  buried  in  God's  acre  around  the  holy  temple  are 
decorated  with  a  profusion  of  flowers  which  have  previously 
been  consecrated  upon  the  ancient  altar.  Also  those  are 
called  to  mind  who  have  lived  and  died  far  from  this  their 
Christian  birthplace,  who  cherished  in  their  memory  this 
sacred  spot  where  they  were  born  again  in  baptism,  ratified 
their  vows  in  confirmation  and  received  the  tokens  of  their 
Saviour's  dying  love  in  Holy  Communion.  From  time  to 
time  her  faithful  children  are  brought  to  her  sacred  courts, 
where  the  beautiful  burial  service  is  said  over  them,  and 
they  are  laid  to  rest  in  the  lovely  churchyard.  The  dear  old 
mother  watches  over  them  now  as  she  has  done  for  more 
than  a  century. 

It  should  be  mentioned  that  St.  Alban's,  Danielson,  which 
was  oragnized  about  1865,  is  a  child  of  old  Trinity ;  Christ 
Church,  Pomfret,  and  St.  Philip's,  Putnam,  are  also 
descended  from  the  old  parish. 

Trinity  Church,  Brooklyn,  was  the  last  parish  organized 
before  the  Revolution,  and  so  the  last  of  the  Connecticut 
parishes  to  have  a  Colonial  history.  Its  present  rector  is  the 
grandson  of  one  of  the  Colonial  clergy  and  Connecticut's 
second  bishop,  the  last  of  the  clergy  of  the  Diocese  who 
is  connected  with  its  Pre-Revolutionary  days. 


HppenMi  a. 

One  Hundred  and  Sixtieth  Anniversary  of  the  Building 
of  Christ  Church,  West  Haven,  Conn. 


ADDRESS  BY  REV.  EDWIN  S.  LINES,  D.D. 

The  first  organized  parish  of  our  Church  in  Connecticut  was  in 
Stratford,  dating  from  1/07,  the  result  of  visits  of  Col.  Heathcote  and 
Rev.  Mr.  Muirson  from  New  York,  in  the  preceding  year.  The 
Church  did  not,  however,  greatly  prosper  there  until  the  coming  of 
Rev.  George  Pigot,  Trinity  Sunday,  1722.  He  found  thirty  communi- 
cants, and  many  persons  awaiting  baptism,  and  the  erection  of  the 
church  building,  long  delayed,  at  once  proceeded.  But  he  had  larger 
work  to  do  than  guide  the  fortunes  of  the  little  parish  at  Stratford. 
A  company  of  men  in  and  about  Yale  College,  now  happily  estab- 
lished at  New  Haven,  were  thinking  and  reading  about  the  claims 
of  the  Church  of  England  as  against  Independency.  There  were 
seven  men  in  that  company  of  seekers  after  the  truth  in  respect  to 
Church  order  and  an  Apostolic  ministry.  They  were:  Dr.  Timothy 
Cutler,  the  president;  Samuel  Johnson,  Congregational  minister  in 
West  Haven ;  Daniel  Browne  of  West  Haven,  a  tutor  in  the  College ; 
James  Wetmore,  minister  at  North  Haven;  Jared  Eliot  of  Killing- 
worth;  John  Hart  of  East  Guilford,  Madison;  Samuel  Whittlesey 
of  Wallingford. 

These  men  communicated  with  Mr.  Pigot,  for  he  soon  made  record 
"of  his  expectations  of  a  glorious  revolution  of  the  ecclesiastics  of 
this  country."  He  doubtless  gave  the  enquirers  practical  advice, 
but  they  probably  worked  their  way  to  their  conclusions  by  their  own 
reading  and  discussions. 

At  Commencement  in  the  autumn  of  1722,  Connecticut  was  startled 
in  a  way  which  we  can  hardly  describe  too  strongly,  with  the 
announcement  that  Cutler,  Johnson,  Browne,  Wetmore,  and  perhaps 
others,  had  declared  for  Episcopacy. 

President  Woolsey  said  that  "greater  alarm  would  scarcely  be 
awakened  now  if  the  Theological  Faculty  of  the  College  were  to 


-158- 

declare  for  the  Church  of  Rome,  avow  their  belief  in  transubstantia- 
tion  and  pray  to  the  Virgin  Mary." 

Quincy,  in  his  "History  of  Harvard  University,"  writes :  "This 
event  shook  Congregationalism  throughout  New  England  like  an 
earthquake,  and  filled  all  its  friends  with  terror  and  apprehension." 
Dr.  Mather  in  his  prayer  spoke  of  "the  Connecticut  apostacie." 

There  were  conferences  in  the  college  library  under  the  direction 
of  Governor  Saltonstall,  who  was  counted  well  versed  in  the  matter. 
Cutler,  Johnson,  Browne,  Wetmore,  persisted  in  their  decision. 
Eliot,  Hart,  Whittlesey  went  no  further.  The  Puritan  historian 
represents  them  as  convinced  of  the  validity  of  their  ordination  by 
the  arguments  of  the  Governor.  The  decision  of  the  four  first  named, 
to  seek  ordination  in  the  Church  of  England,  gave  the  Episcopal 
Church  an  assured  place  in  the  colony.  The  news  must  have  been 
more  than  the  scattered  Churchmen  could  readily  believe.  The  deci- 
sion meant  for  the  four  men  great  sacrifice,  and  must  have  the 
sincere  respect  of  the  right-minded. 

Two  of  these  men  were  from  the  village  of  West  Haven, — John- 
son, the  minister;  Browne,  the  college  tutor,  graduate  of  Yale  in 
the  class  of  1714,  as  was  also  Wetmore.  Johnson  was  from  1716 
to  1719  a  tutor  of  three  lower  classes,  and  Browne  was  associated 
with  him  as  a  tutor  for  one  year. 

In  1715  the  long-continued  efforts  of  "the  Westsiders,"  so  called, 
or  "West-farmers,"  had  been  successful,  and  permission  of  the 
First  Ecclesiastical  society  of  New  Haven,  to  form  the  West  Haven 
Congregational  parish,  had  been  obtained.  Up  to  that  time  the  New 
Haven  people  had  been  unwilling  to  have  "the  Westsiders"  leave 
them.  In  1719  the  Congregational  society  was  duly  incorporated, 
and  Johnson  became  the  first  minister. 

Near  the  college,  he  remained  a  diligent  student  in  its  library. 
The  friendship  between  Johnson  and  Browne  must  have  been  very 
close.  Together  they  sailed  for  England  in  November,  1722,  and 
together  they  were  ordained  deacons  and  priests,  March,  1723,  in 
the  old  church  of  St.  Martin-in-the-Fields,  which  looked  down  over 
what  has  been  long  known  as  Trafalgar  square. 

Two  weeks  from  the  day  of  his  ordination  to  the  priesthood, 
Browne  died  of  smallpox.  He  was  buried  in  the  church  of  St.  Dun- 
stan-in-the-West,  the  old  church  near  where  the  Strand  takes  the 
name  of  Fleet  street.  So  a  man  from  whom  much  was  reasonably 
hoped,  a  man  whose  name  ought  ever  to  be  remembered  with 
reverence  in  West  Haven,  was  lost  to  the  Church  on  the  earth. 
Johnson  wrote  of  him  in  his  diary:  "I  have  lost  the  best  friend  in 


—159— 

the  world, — a  fine  scholar  and  a  brave  Christian."  President  Stiles, 
writing  of  Browne,  Johnson,  Cutler  and  Wetmore,  says  that  Browne 
was  "a  gentleman  of  the  most  superior  sense  and  learning  of  the 
four." 

It  is  my  hope  that  some  day  in  this  church  there  may  be  a  memorial 
tablet  for  Rev.  Daniel  Browne,  who  was  so  early  lost  to  the  Church 
on  the  earth.  He  died  a  stranger  in  a  strange  land,  and  his  body 
was  laid  under  the  church  of  St.  Dunstan-in-the-West,  where  the 
never-ending  crowd  is  passing  between  St.  Paul's  cathedral  and 
Temple  Bar  through  London's  busiest  street.  I  could  find  no  memo- 
rial of  him  there.  He  died  before  he  could  use  among  his  own 
people  here  in  West  Haven  the  ministry  which  it  had  cost  him  so 
much  hardship  and  sacrifice  to  obtain.  It  becomes  us  to  see  to  it 
that  in  his  own  parish  and  in  the  Diocese  which  reasonably  expected 
so  much  from  him,  he  is  reverently  remembered.  Perhaps  from  Dr. 
Johnson's  words  concerning  his  "best  friend  in  the  world,"  a  sen- 
tence for  that  memorial  tablet  may  be  taken:  "A  fine  scholar  and 
a  brave  Christian." 

Returning,  Cutler  went  to  Boston  to  spend  his  whole  ministry,  to- 
1765,  Wetmore  to  Rye,  to  1760,  Johnson  to  Stratford,  Pigot  having 
gone  on  to  Providence.    Johnson  officiated  at  West  Haven  regularly, 
although  not  very  frequently. 

Ten  or  fifteen  families  conformed  to  the  Church  of  England,  and 
the  organization  of  the  parish  ought  to  date  from  1723.  Johnson  was 
the  only  Church  clergyman  in  the  colony,  and  West  Haven  could 
claim  little  of  his  time.  But  there  was  from  1723  a  considerable 
number  of  staunch  Church  people  in  West  Haven.  They  were  com- 
pelled to  wait  for  a  clergyman  until  they  could  get  Johnson's  suc- 
cessor in  the  West  Haven  Congregational  Church,  Rev.  Jonathan 
Arnold. 

He  was  a  native  of  Haddam  and  graduate  of  the  college  in  1723. 
Early  in  1725  he  was  ordained  pastor  of  the  Congregational  church 
in  West  Haven,  the  people  stipulating  that  if  he  should,  like  his 
predecessor,  Samuel  Johnson,  embrace  Episcopacy,  the  money  paid 
to  him  as  a  settlement  should  be  refunded. 

A  fear  of  the  influence  of  the  Episcopal  Church  succeeded  con- 
tempt for  it.  The  college  guarded  against  the  repetition  of  the 
experience  of  1722,  when  they  excused  "Rev.  Mr.  Cutler  from  all 
further  service  as  rector  of  Yale  college,"  by  providing  that  all 
future  rectors  and  tutors  should,  before  their  appointment  was  com- 
plete, declare  to  the  trustees,  "their  assent  to  the  confession  of  faith 
owned  and  consented  to  at  Saybrook,  September  9,  1708,  and  shall 


— 160 — 

particularly  give  satisfaction  to  them  of  the  soundness  of  their  faith 
in  opposition  to  Arminian  and  prelated  corruptions,  or  any  other 
of  dangerous  consequence  to  the  parity  and  peace  of  our  churches." 
I  believe  that  this  statute  was  not  repealed  until  the  end  of  the  cen- 
tury. 

Parishes,  like  that  of  West  Haven,  appear  to  have  guarded  them- 
selves against  the  loss  of  money  paid  in  the  settlement  of  a  minister. 
It  proved  a  wise  precaution,  for  in  1733  Johnson  could  write  to  the 
Bishop  of  London  that  Arnold  was  likely  soon  to  declare  for  the 
Church  of  England.  He  received  the  Communion  at  Stratford  Eas- 
ter Day,  1734,  was  dismissed  from  his  pastoral  charge  in  West  Haven 
in  May  or  June,  and  in  1735  went  to  England  for  holy  orders. 
West  Haven  is  very  likely  exceptional  in  having  the  first  two  min- 
isters of  the  Congregational  church  the  first  two  ministers  of  the 
Episcopal  church. 

It  is  quite  certain  that  Johnson,  in  his  occasional  services  at  West 
Haven,  saw  and  influenced  Arnold.  Mr.  Arnold  returned  in  mid- 
summer, 1736,  with  the  appointment  as  itinerant  missionary  for  Con- 
necticut of  the  S.  P.  G.,  with  residence  at  West  Haven,  and  a  salary 
of  £30  a  year.  He  had  some  private  means  and  desired  no  more. 

Of  the  course  of  events  in  the  West  Haven  church,  while  they 
looked  to  Johnson  for  occasional  services  (1723-1736),  or  while 
Mr.  Arnold  was  in  residence  (1736-1740),  not  very  much  can  be 
said.  Mr.  Johnson's  letters  were  filled  with  accounts  of  work  in 
Fairfield  County.  The  reception  of  the  Church  in  Huntington, 
Newtown,  Redding,  and  especially  Fairfield  was  remarkable.  To 
Fairfield  churchmen  the  honor  belongs  of  influencing  the  Assembly 
to  permit  churchmen  to  pay  their  money  for  the  support  of  their 
own  churches,  rather  than  for  the  support  of  the  established  order. 
The  statute  of  1727  did  not,  however,  bring  as  much  relief  as  was 
expected,  as  it  was  apparently  interpreted  in  favor  alone  of  church- 
men living  within  one  mile  of  the  church. 

In  1728  Johnson  wrote  that  those  living  near  the  parish  churches 
were  exempted  from  paying  to  the  Congregational  ministers,  but  that 
those  scattered  through  the  country  were  treated  as  badly  as  ever. 
In  the  same  letter  he  adds  that  he  has  lately  been  preaching  at  New 
Haven  where  the  college  is,  and  has  had  a  considerable  congregation, 
and  among  them  several  of  the  scholars,  who  were  very  inquisitive 
about  the  principles  of  the  Church.  Ten  churchmen  offered  £100 
towards  the  building  of  a  church.  But  nearly  a  generation  was  to 
pass  before  Johnson's  hope  of  seeing  a  church  in  New  Haven  proper 
was  realized. 


He  had  the  opinion  that  great  pains  were  taken  in  New  Haven  to 
hinder  people  from  coming  to  church.  It  was  natural  that  the  college 
should  remember  Johnson  and  use  influence  in  the  town  to  prevent 
the  teaching  of  dangerous  prelatical  opinions.  Yale  College  was, 
however,  doing  good  work  for  the  Episcopal  Church,  giving  a  suc- 
cession of  educated  men  to  her  ministry, — Pierson,  Palmer,  Browne 
from  the  class  of  1729.  Later  in  the  year  of  1728,  Johnson  writes 
that  he  continues  to  preach  with  success  at  New  Haven,  but  that  the 
people  will  neither  give  nor  sell  them  a  piece  of  land  to  build  a 
church  on. 

It  is  plain  that  Johnson  kept  a  watchful  eye  upon  Yale  College, 
for  in  1730  he  writes  that  he  has  very  considerable  influence  in  it, 
and  that  a  love  of  the  Church  gains  greatly  therein.  Several  grad- 
uates and  some  young  ministers  have  been  prevailed  upon  to  read 
and  are  well  disposed. 

In  a  letter  written  by  Johnson  in  1731  we  have  a  special  interest 
because  of  what  is  said  of  Isaac  Browne,  a  brother  of  Daniel  Browne 
of  West  Haven,  who  died  in  England  of  smallpox  immediately  after 
his  ordination.  Isaac  Browne  graduated  at  Yale  college,  as  already 
stated,  in  1729.  He  was  under  Johnson,  a  teacher  at  Setauket,  across 
the  Sound,  after  graduation.  He  went  to  England  for  holy  orders 
i°  1733-  He  ministered  in  New  Jersey  until  the  American  Revolu- 
tion, and  thereafter  removed  to  Nova  Scotia,  where  he  died  in  1787 
in  the  midst  of  poverty  and  affliction.  As  a  West  Haven  man,  he  is 
to  be  especially  remembered  here. 

We  may  believe  that  if  Johnson  was  able  to  preach  only  once  a 
quarter  in  West  Haven,  he  still  kept  close  knowledge  of  his  old 
people.  Although  the  upper  road  was  the  most  direct  for  him  in 
his  journeys  to  New  Haven,  he  would  naturally  turn  aside  to  see 
the  Church  people  in  West  Haven.  New  Haven  was  ecclesiastically 
attached  to  West  Haven. 

No  sooner  was  Mr.  Arnold  in  residence  in  West  Haven  than  he 
began  to  officiate  in  neighboring  towns.  In  September,  1736.  he  was 
at  Milford  and  he  appears  to  think  that  the  Lord's  Prayer,  the  Creed, 
and  the  Ten  Commandments,  and  reading  the  Scripture  in  Divine 
Service  without  comment,  were  never  known  there  before.  He  had 
a  "numerous  auditory,  most  attentive  and  desirous  to  be  instructed 
in  the  worship  of  the  Church  of  England,"  but  from  among  the 
poorer  of  the  people. 

In  1737  Mr.  Arnold  visited  Waterbury  and  Derby,  administering 
the  Sacraments,  preaching  and  encouraging  the  Church  families.  In 
Derby,  in  1738,  the  deed  of  the  lot  upon  which  the  church  was  to  be 
ii 


1 62 — 

built  was  made  in  his  name.  So  from  West  Haven  the  mission- 
ary of  the  Church  went  to  lay  foundations  in  towns  destined  to  be 
much  larger  than  his  own.  This  little  church  is  in  a  sense  the 
mother-church  in  New  Haven  County  and  to  be  associated  with 
Stratford  in  the  affection  of  Connecticut  churchmen. 

The  most  dramatic  incident,  in  what  must  have  been  the  rather 
prosaic  life  of  Mr.  Arnold,  was  his  attempt  to  assert  his  claim,  for 
the  Church  in  New  Haven,  to  the  so-called  Gregson  land  opposite 
the  New  Haven  public  Green.  He  had  obtained  the  title  to  it  as 
he  supposed,  when  in  England,  by  a  deed  given  by  William  Gregson 
to  himself.  The  land  was  given  for  the  erection  of  an  Episcopal 
church,  and  as  glebe  land  for  a  minister.  Mr.  Arnold  undertook 
to  plough  this  land  in  the  autumn  of  1738,  and  so  to  assert  his  right. 
The  established  order  regarded  Mr.  Arnold's  title  as  imperfect  and 
plainly  had  no  desire  to  see  an  Episcopal  church  built  facing  the 
New  Haven  town  Green.  "Arnold's  attempt  was  resisted  by  a  mob 
of  students  and  townpeople."  Mr.  Arnold,  his  servants,  and  his  oxen 
are  reported  to  have  been  beaten  and  driven  from  the  field. 

Mr.  Arnold  was  not  the  most  discreet  of  men,  and  possibly  began 
his  undertaking  in  the  wrong  way.  The  Connecticut  clergy  sent 
to  England  an  account  of  the  way  in  which  the  people,  in  a  riotous 
and  tumultuous  manner,  beat  his  cattle  and  abused  his  servants, 
threatening  both  his  and  their  lives  to  that  degree,  that  he  was 
obliged  to  quit  the  field.  One  would  like  to  have  seen  a  New 
Haven  mob  in  1738  with  Yale  students  as  the  leaders,  when  Dr. 
Mansfield,  Gov.  Livingston,  Dr.  Hopkins,  author  of  the  Hopkinsian 
theology,  General  David  Wooster,  etc.,  were  undergraduates. 

Mr.  Arnold  left  West  Haven  in  1740  and  went  to  Staten  Island. 
His  ministry  was  not  altogether  peaceful.  He  lacked  stability  and 
discretion  and  his  last  days  were  not  his  best.  The  common  state- 
ment that  he  lost  his  life  on  his  way  to  England  seems  unwarranted. 

His  successor  at  West  Haven  in  1740  was  Rev.  Theophilus  Morris, 
an  Englishman  by  birth,  unable  to  adapt  himself  fully  to  his  new 
surroundings.  He  gives  a  good  account  of  his  parishioners.  They 
received  him  with  great  pleasure,  fearing  that  they  were  to  be  left 
without  a  missionary.  He  adds  "I  must  further  say  of  them,  that 
they  are  the  most  versed  in  casuistry  of  any  people  I  ever  met, 
I  mean  of  those  that  can  only  read  English.  The  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury's  treatise  on  Church  government,  and  the  late  Arch- 
bishop of  Dublin's  Collection  of  Cases,  with  several  other  books, 
have  been  read  here  to  good  purpose;  and  what  they  are  further 
to  be  valued  for  is,  that  their  conforming  to  the  Church  has  exposed 
them  to  many  inconveniences  and  oppressions." 


-i63- 

Casuistry  would  appear  to  have  been  then  a  subject  of  more  popu- 
lar interest  than  in  more  recent  times.  Mr.  Morris  thought  his  par- 
ish large  enough  for  a  diocese.  He  went  up  the  valley  of  the 
Naugatuck,  as  his  predecessor,  Arnold,  had  done.  He  laid  founda- 
tions at  North  Haven  and  Wallingford  and  at  Simsbury.  Ebenezer 
Thompson  of  West  Haven,  Yale  1733,  afterwards  1743,  ordained 
in  England  and  for  more  than  thirty  years  the  Church  clergyman 
at  Scituate,  Mass.,  assisted  Mr.  Morris  in  his  missions  as  lay  reader. 

Mr.  Morris  remained  in  West  Haven  and  in  the  colony  but  two 
years.  He  placed  himself  in  opposition  to  the  New  England  clergy 
in  their  desire  to  have  Johnson  made  the  Bishop  of  London's  Com- 
missary for  the  sake  of  order  and  discipline.  He  could  not  enter 
into  the  life  of  the  people  as  the  ministers  born  in  the  colony  could. 
But  in  his  short  ministry  here  the  little  church  was  built  and  carried 
far  towards  completion. 

I  believe  that  the  title  to  the  land  where  the  church  stands,  and 
where  for  many  generations  the  dead  were  buried,  was  taken  in  his 
name.  The  original  subscription  list,  carefully  preserved,  with  the 
statements  of  the  amounts  of  rum,  molasses,  mutton,  etc.,  required 
at  the  various  stages  of  building,  is  remarkable.  If  the  tower  of  the 
church,  the  chancel,  the  side  aisle  and  about  one-fourth  of  the  west 
end  of  the  nave  were  taken  away,  the  church  would  stand  in  its 
original  form. 

It  remains  the  oldest  of  our  church  buildings  in  the  Diocese,  and 
it  is  to  be  hoped  that  it  will  long  stand  to  remind  churchmen  of 
the  time  in  which  the  fathers  bore  their  testimony  and  laid  the 
foundations  upon  which  the  Church  in  Connecticut  rests. 

To  build  even  this  small  structure  must  have  cost  the  little  com- 
pany of  West  Haven  Church  people  much  in  the  way  of  self-sacrifice. 
When  it  stood  ready  for  use  for  worship  in  the  old  way,  there  must 
have  been  as  great  thankfulness  here  as  when  any  of  the  nobler 
churches  of  the  Diocese  have  been  finished.  When  a  grander  church 
stands  here  in  the  great  suburb  of  the  great  city,  let  men  take  away, 
if  they  will,  tower,  chancel,  side  aisle,  but  let  the  church  as  it  stood 
in  the  beginning  remain.  Connecticut  people  are  not  as  a  rule  over- 
charged with  sentiment,  but  Connecticut  churchmen  ought  to  retain 
some  sentiment  in  regard  to  this  old  church  in  the  mother  parish 
of  New  Haven  County. 

In  this  year  of  1742,  the  clergy,  in  petitioning  the  Bishop  of  London 
to  appoint  Johnson  as  his  Commissary,  reported  fourteen  churches 
built  or  building,  seven  clergy  within  the  colony  and  more  daily  called 
for,  about  2,000  adult  Church  people,  and  five  or  six  thousand  young 


— 164 — 

and  old.  We  reach  here  the  time  of  great  religious  excitement.  The 
revival  associated  with  the  great  name  of  Jonathan  Edwards,  six 
or  seven  years  before,  had  reached  far  beyond  Northampton.  But 
it  had  subsided  and  religious  indifference  again  prevailed.  But  now 
in  1741-42  there  came  a  revival  which  was  without  precedent — the 
great  awakening  in  New  England.  It  is  associated  with  the  name 
of  Whitefield  above  all  others.  But  the  country  was  filled  with 
exhorters  and  enthusiasts,  and  there  was  extravagance  and  excite- 
ment almost  beyond  belief.  It  was  the  reaction  from  the  spiritual 
deadness  of  sixty  years.  The  Puritan  churches  were  thrown  into 
controversy  and  discord.  The  old  conservative  people  tried  vainly 
to  withstand  the  new  enthusiasm.  The  "old  lights"  disliked  the 
"new  lights"  more  than  they  disliked  the  Episcopal  Church,  which 
is  saying  a  good  deal.  There  is  no  time  here  to  speak  of  the  wild 
extravagance  of  some  of  these  traveling  preachers,  going  up  and 
down  telling  the  clergy  that  they  had  never  been  converted  and  that 
they  were  leading  their  congregations  straight  down  to  hell.  The 
outcries  and  bodily  manifestations,  as  the  result  of  the  new  preaching, 
were  almost  incredible.  Meanwhile  the  Church  went  on  her  way 
quietly,  unmoved  by  the  excitement.  She  became  a  refuge  for  those 
who  were  wearied  by  the  religious  turmoil  and  controversy.  It  was 
the  time  of  lengthening  cords  and  strengthening  stakes,  and  it  was 
entirely  creditable  to  her. 

It  must  have  been  a  blessed  thing  in  New  England  between  1740 
and  1750  that  there  was  in  the  Episcopal  Church  a  place  where  the 
Gospel  was  simply  preached  and  the  Christian  life  nourished.  I  have 
the  impression  that  in  these  years  of  turmoil  and  confusion  our 
Church  gained  greatly  and  took  a  position  which  would  have  been 
commanding,  but  for  the  ruin  which  came  with  the  war  of  Inde- 
pendence. The  Church  was  commending  herself  more  and  more  to 
Connecticut  people.  Connecticut  clergy  understood  their  own  people 
and  were  gaining  a  larger  hearing. 

Permit  a  reference  to  what  happened  in  the  West  Haven  Congre- 
gational church  in  this  year  of  1742.  Rev.  Timothy  Allen  was  settled 
in  1738,  a  fair  financial  penalty  for  "conforming  to  Episcopacy" 
very  likely  being  determined.  He  did  not  go  that  way,  but  being, 
says  Dr.  Trumbull,  an  able  and  zealous  Calvinistic  preacher,  he  was 
not  pleasing  to  the  conservative  clergy  of  the  New  Haven  consocia- 
tion. Mr.  Allen  had  made  the  imprudent  remark  "that  the  read- 
ing of  the  Scriptures  without  the  concurring  influence  of  the  Spirit 
of  God  will  no  more  convert  a  sinner  than  the  reading  of  an  old 
almanac."  Mr.  Allen  regretted  the  ill-judged  remark  and  offered 


-i65- 

his  confession  to  the  association.  But  they  would  not  receive  it, 
and  dismissed  him  with  the  remark  that  they  had  blown  out  one 
new  light  and  that  they  would  blow  them  all  out.  Mr.  Allen's  new 
light  shone  no  more  in  West  Haven,  but  fifty-eight  years  after,  in 
the  year  1800,  in  Chestef field,  Mass.,  and  even  to  the  age  of  eighty- 
nine  years,  his  light  was  shining. 

Rev.  Nathan  Birdseye  was  settled  in  the  West  Haven  Congrega- 
tional church  in  October,  1742,  and  remained  until  1758.  He  had 
twelve  children  and  a  small  salary.  It  is  not  known  that  he  was 
ever  disposed  to  enter  the  Episcopal  Church  and  so  forfeit  any  money 
paid  at  his  settlement.  But  other  mercies  than  admission  to  the 
ministry  of  this  Church  were  granted  him.  For  in  Northern  Strat- 
ford, whither  he  retired,  he  lived  to  the  age  of  103  years  and  6 
months,  dying  in  1818,  and  leaving  258  descendants.  It  is  the  long- 
est life  of  a  Yale  man  as  far  as  known. 

Let  me  now  follow  the  story  of  the  West  Haven  church  a  little 
further.  Rev.  James  Lyons  had  charge  of  the  parish  and  of  part 
of  the  work  begun  by  Arnold  and  Morris.  He  was  an  Irishman  and 
he  found  a  prejudice  against  foreigners.  His  ministry  was  not 
altogether  successful,  and  he  was  disposed  to  complain  of  the  treat- 
ment received.  Other  towns  were  going  before  West  Haven  in 
importance,  and  the  little  parish  must  be  content  to  be  overshadowed 
by  its  children.  The  ministries  of  Dr.  Mansfield,  Punderson  and 
Palmer,  bring  the  history  down  to  1767. 

During  the  long  ministry  of  Dr.  Bela  Hubbard,  from  1767  to  1812, 
West  Haven  made  with  New  Haven  one  cure.  Dr.  Mansfield  resided 
at  Derby  and  gave  to  the  West  Haven  parish  a  part — it  is  said  one- 
third — of  his  time.  Rev.  Mr.  Punderson  and  Rev.  Mr.  Palmer  lived 
in  New  Haven,  but  for  many  years  the  importance  of  West  Haven 
was  relatively  much  greater  than  one  would  at  first  think.  It  proved 
very  hard  to  establish  the  Episcopal  Church  under  the  shadow  of 
Yale  College.  In  less  important  towns  all  about  the  colony  a  foot- 
hold, and  indeed,  considerable  strength,  were  earlier  gained.  Dr. 
Beardsley  writes,  "more  than  twenty  churches  had  been  built  in  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  colony  before  a  spade  was  taken  to  dig  for  the 
foundations  of  an  Episcopal  House  of  Worship  in  New  Haven,  a 
town,  then  as  now,  leading  all  others  in  the  number  of  its  inhabi- 
tants." 

When  Arnold's  attempt  to  possess  the  Gregson  land  as  the  first 
step  towards  building  thereon  was  resisted,  when  New  Haven  and 
Yale  College  combined  routed  him,  his  servants  and  yoke  of  West 
Haven  oxen  after  a  pitched  battle,  the  determination  to  build  the 


little  West  Haven  church  was  made.  Yet  Johnson  writes  that  at 
the  Yale  commencement  in  1748  nine  of  our  clergy  were  together 
and  consulted  the  best  things  for  the  interest  of  the  Church.  Among 
the  candidates  for  degrees  that  year  no  less  than  ten  belonged  to 
the  Episcopal  Church.  Among  the  masters  were  Sturges,  Learning 
and  Chandler.  Among  the  bachelors,  Johnson's  own  son,  Ogilvie, 
and  Seabury,  the  future  Bishop.  This  letter  has  the  following  refer- 
ence to  the  first  Bishop  of  Connecticut :  "Seabury"  (of  New  Lon- 
don, the  elder  Seabury)  "has  a  promising  son,  and  as  he  designs 
him  for  the  Society's  service,  he  desires  me  to  mention  what  I  know 
of  him ;  and  as  he  has  lived  four  years  much  under  my  eye,  I  can 
truly  testify  of  him  that  he  is  a  solid,  sensible,  virtuous  youth,  and  I 
doubt  not,  may  in  due  time,  do  good  service." 

It  was  in  1752  that  the  formal  beginnings  of  the  Church  in  New 
Haven  proper  were  made.  In  the  winter  before  timber  was  prepared 
to  build  a  church  60  x  40  feet  opposite  the  Gregson  land  of  still 
disputed  title,  on  what  is  now  Church  street,  on  the  east  side,  a  short 
distance  south  of  Chapel  street.  Rev.  Mr.  Punderson,  up  to  this  time 
an  itinerant  missionary  in  Eastern  Connecticut,  came  to  take  charge 
of  the  new  work  in  New  Haven  and  of  West  Haven  in  1752  or  1753, 
and  the  organization  of  Trinity  parish  dates  from  this  time.  We 
must  not  suppose  that  Church  services  in  New  Haven  before  1752 
and  Mr.  Punderson's  coming  into  residence  were  unknown.  For  in 
1749  Johnson  had  written  that  the  Church  was  considerably  increas- 
ing in  New  Haven  and  a  considerable  sum  had  been  subscribed  to 
build  a  church.  He  doubted  not  that  between  New  Haven  and 
West  Haven,  a  village  within  four  miles,  where  already  there  is  a 
neat  church,  there  will  soon  be  thirty  or  forty,  or  fifty  families. 
He  adds :  "My  younger  son  has  read  all  the  last  fall  and  winter, 
chiefly  at  West  Haven,  and  sometimes  at  Branford  and  Guilford,  as 
well  as  at  Ripton,  but  as  he  lives  at  the  college,  the  chief  place  of  his 
usefulness  is  there,  and  at  West  Haven."  The  son  referred  to  was 
Samuel,  who  died  in  1756,  and  not  the  distinguished  son,  William 
Samuel,  Yale  1744,  who  lived  until  1817.  Mr.  Punderson,  while  an 
itinerant  missionary,  writes  that  in  September,  1750,  the  Sunday  after 
Commencement,  he  preached  in  New  Haven,  his  native  town,  in  the 
State  House,  to  a  numerous  assembly,  notwithstanding  Brother 
Thompson  preached  the  same  day  in  the  church  at  West  Haven. 
But  Mr.  Punderson  was  not  altogether  successful  at  New  Haven. 
Johnson  wrote  of  him :  "Mr.  Punderson  seems  a  very  honest  and 
laborious  man,  yet  the  Church  at  New  Haven  appears  uneasy  and 
rather  declining  under  his  ministry,  occasioned,  I  believe,  partly  by 


REV.    BELA    HUBBARD,    D.D. 


— 1 67 — 

his  want  of  politeness,  and  partly  by  his  being  absent  so  much,  hav- 
ing five  or  six  places  under  his  care.  I  wish  he  was  again  at  Groton 
and  some  politer  person  in  his  place,  and  another  at  Guilford  and 
Branford." 

Solomon  Palmer  succeeded  Mr.  Punderson  and  was  quite  ready  to 
criticise  his  work,  while  not  doing,  I  judge,  much  better.  Bela  Hub- 
bard  came  to  New  Haven  in  1767,  and  while  West  Haven  made  a 
part  of  his  cure,  references  to  the  little  parish  are  not  frequent. 
Other  parishes  have  become  more  important  and  claim  larger  notice. 

In  1771  Mr.  Hubbard  writes :  "I  have  been  able,  thank  God,  with 
little  or  no  interruption,  to  perform  my  Sunday  duty  (besides  occa- 
sional week-day  lectures)  to  a  decent  and  sober  congregation,  both 
at  New  Haven  and  West  Haven,  which  people,  even  in  the  opinion 
of  dissenters,  are  a  sober,  regular  and  good  sort  of  people,  steady 
and  exemplary  in  their  attendance  upon  public  worship,  and  I  trust 
most  of  them  make  a  regular  progress  in  their  holy  profession.  The 
number  of  families  in  New  Haven  are  now,  I  believe,  nearly  one 
hundred,  and  in  the  parish  of  West  Haven  about  thirty -five."  In 
1772  Mr.  Hubbard  wrote  that  he  was  pleased  and  happpy  in  his 
situation,  that  many  of  the  dissenters  came  occasionally  to  church, 
that  his  congregation  in  less  than  five  years  increased  one-third. 
"The  souls,  white  and  black,  belonging  to  the  Church  in  New  Haven 
are  503,  and  in  my  church  at  West  Haven  there  are  220." 

Mr.  Hubbard  officiated  regularly  in  West  Haven,  but  with  decreas- 
ing frequency  in  the  latter  part  of  his  ministry,  from  1791  to  1812. 
Services  were  plainly  provided  at  times  in  connection  with  other 
parishes  and  by  many  clergymen.  Mr.  Chapin  mentions  the  services 
of  Rev.  Mr.  Belden  of  Milford,  1788-9 ;  Rev.  Mr.  Blakeslee  of  Derby, 
1797.  The  parish  records  show  payments  for  services  to  Bishop 
Jarvis  in  1802-3-4.  1°  i&°5  Rgv-  C.  White  of  Derby  officiated  one- 
fifth,  and  in  1806  one-fourth  of  the  time.  In  Dr.  Sprague's  annals 
I  read  that  "Andrew  Fowler,  a  native  of  Guilford,  graduated  at 
Yale  college  1783,  during  the  last  two  years  he  was  in  college  read 
prayers  two  Sundays  in  five  at  New  Haven  and  the  remaining  three 
Sundays  at  West  Haven,  by  request  of  the  rector,  Dr.  Hubbard,  and 
by  permission  of  the  president,  Dr.  Stiles."  In  the  same  volume  in 
the  sketch  of  Dr.  Hubbard  it  is  said  that  until  the  Revolution  he 
divided  his  time  equally  between  New  Haven  and  West  Haven. 
After  that  time  until  1791  he  gave  but  one-fourth  of  his  time  to  West 
Haven.  From  1791  his  services  were  confined  almost  entirely  to 
New  Haven. 

Dr.  Beardsley  has  written :  "Trinity  church,  New  Haven,  in  voting 
a  salary  to  the  rector  at  the  Easter  meeting  of  1797,  allowed  him 


— 168— 

leave  of  absence  seven  Sundays  in  the  year,  that  he  might  officiate  in 
West  Haven,  on  condition,  however,  that  the  church  in  that  place 
pay  to  the  vestry  of  Trinity  parish  the  sum  of  fifty  dollars  for  his 
services.  This  arrangement  continued  for  quite  a  period,  but  as 
the  vote  shows,  the  leave  of  absence  was  not  so  much  for  the  benefit 
of  the  rector  as  for  the  relief  of  the  parish  in  New  Haven."  It  is 
to  be  added,  however,  in  regard  to  Dr.  Hubbard,  "Though  his  salary 
was  for  many  years  small"  after  the  war  cut  off  the  stipend  from 
England,  "the  liberality  of  his  parishioners  and  the  exemplary 
economy  of  his  wife  still  rendered  him  comfortable."  I  suppose  it 
impossible  to  determine  the  names  of  all  the  clergy  and  lay  readers 
who  maintained  services  in  West  Haven  in  the  nearly  half  century 
that  the  parish  made  with  Trinity  church  a  cure  under  Dr.  Hubbard. 
A  convocation  of  the  clergy  was  held  in  1799  at  Oyster  River,  a  part 
of  the  parish  where  many  Church  families,  especially  of  the  name 
of  Clarke,  lived  in  former  times.  I  have  not  been  able  to  find  record 
of  what  was  done  at  that  meeting,  but  one  member  of  an  old  West 
Haven  and,  I  judge,  Oyster  River  Church  family  ought  to  be  remem- 
bered. Rev.  Richard  Samuel  Clarke,  son  of  Samuel  Clarke,  was  born 
in  West  Haven  in  1737,  graduated  at  Yale  college  in  1762,  ordained 
in  England  in  1766.  He  was  the  Church  missionary  at  New  Milford 
until  1786,  when  with  many  loyalists  he  withdrew  to  New  Bruns- 
wick. A  ministry  of  twenty-five  years  at  Gagetown  and  thirteen  at 
St.  Stephen,  brought  him  to  the  end  of  his  life  in  1824,  the  oldest 
missionary  at  the  time  in  the  British  (American)  colonies. 

During  the  last  century  the  history  of  the  West  Haven  parish  has 
been  marked  by  little  that  is  noteworthy.  From  the  death  of  Dr. 
Hubbard,  1812,  West  Haven  was  separated  from  New  Haven.  Mr. 
Chapin  says  that  Dr.  William  Smith  had  charge  of  the  parish  until 
1820  in  connection  with  his  work  at  Milford,  but  I  am  not  quite 
satisfied  with  the  statement.  For  in  1817  Dr.  Smith  was  living  in 
retirement  at  Norwalk,  according  to  Dr.  Beardsley,  "spending  his 
time  in  writing  treatises  on  chanting  and  Church  psalmody."  Henry 
Ward  represented  the  parish  at  Diocesan  conventions  in  October, 
1814,  and  June,  1816,  and  Major  Oliver  Clark  at  the  convention  in 
1819,  which  elected  Bishop  Brownell.  From  1820  to  1824  the  church, 
then  called  Trinity,  was  united  with  East  Haven  and  part  of  the 
time  with  North  Haven,  under  Rev.  Joseph  Perry. 

The  ministry  of  Rev.  William  T.  Potter  followed,  combinations 
being  made  in  the  next  few  years  with  East  Haven,  Hamden,  Bran- 
ford,  Milford.  There  was  some  strength  in  the  parish  in  this  second 
decade  of  the  century.  Bishop  Brownell  confirmed  twenty-seven 


— 169 — 

persons  April  27,  1821 ;  four  in  1825 ;  twenty-one  October  29,  1827. 
In  1827  there  were  fifty-three  families,  sixty-seven  communicants 
and  forty-five  Sunday  school  scholars.  But  in  1830  the  condition  of 
the  parish  was  very  depressing.  Death  and  removal  had  diminished 
numbers  and  sea-faring  men  were  away  from  home  so  much  that 
interest  was  broken.  The  little  parish  had  come  to  its  evil  days. 
Services  were  no  longer  regularly  maintained.  The  church  was 
closed  for  a  time  and  it  fell  into  decay. 

To  Rev.  Stephen  Jewett,  living  at  Westville,  the  credit  of  resum- 
ing the  services  belongs,  and  the  date  is  Whit-Sunday,  1837.  Mr. 
Jewett  remained  a  good  friend  of  the  parish  and  had  much  to  do 
with  the  restoration  of  the  church.  There  was  a  short  rectorship 
of  Rev.  Servilius  Stocking,  and  in  1839  Rev.  A.  B.  Chapin  came  to 
remain  for  ten  years.  He  gave  the  parish  the  feeling  of  permanence 
and  gradually  built  up  its  strength.  In  1841,  Mr.  Chapin  reported 
that  the  church  had  been  repaired  at  an  expense  of  about  $900,  mak- 
ing it  one  of  "the  neatest  wood  churches  in  the  diocese."  In  1842 
Bishop  Brownell  says  in  his  annual  address :  "The  edifice  called 
Christ  Church  at  West  Haven  was  erected  103  years  ago,  but  never 
consecrated.  Its  frame  work  being  perfectly  sound,  it  has  recently 
been  thoroughly  repaired  and  renovated  in  a  very  neat  manner,  and 
was  duly  consecrated  on  the  igth  of  May." 

In  1844  Mr.  Chapin  reported  the  purchase  of  an  organ,  the  church 
debt  paid,  the  number  of  communicants  doubled,  and  divine  service 
celebrated  on  all  Sundays.  The  parochial  reports  during  Mr. 
Chapin's  ministry  are  very  full,  showing  the  editorial  instinct.  They 
are,  as  a  rule,  hopeful  although  be  ever  recognized  the  limitations 
of  the  parish  in  respect  of  growth.  Rev.  Dr.  Richardson  and  Rev. 
Mr.  Whitesides  had  brief  ministries  in  the  parish  and  Rev.  Henry 
Zell  was  rector  from  1853-63.  Then  come  rectorships  of  one  or  two 
years  only,  Rev.  Mr.  Lumsdem,  Rev.  Dr.  Gurdon  S.  Coit,  Rev.  O. 
S.  Prescott,  Rev.  Dr.  J.  B.  Flagg,  Rev.  Mr.  Loop,  Rev.  C.  C.  Adams. 
The  writer  was  rector  from  1874  to  1879 — five  and  one-half  years. 
Rev.  E.  W.  Worthington  was  rector  until  1882,  Rev.  Jacob  Streibert 
until  1885.  Rev.  A.  E.  Beeman  was  here  one  year,  and  from  1886 
to  1895,  under  Rev.  H.  B.  Whitney,  the  parish  saw  large  measure 
of  prosperity.  The  church  adorned,  the  new  organ,  the  improved 
heating  and  lighting,  the  vested  choir,  the  beautiful  rectory,  the 
Parish  house,  made  this  rectorship  memorable.  Rev.  R.  H.  Gessner 
was  rector  from  1895  to  1900,  and  Rev.  A.  J.  Gammack  accepted 
the  rectorship  in  1900.  The  latter  days  of  this  no  longer  little 
parish  are  its  best.  Surely  the  hearts  of  many  who  labored  here  in 


—i7o— 

the  day  of  small  things,  when  there  was  much  to  discourage,  would 
rejoice  if  they  could  see  what  our  eyes  see  to-day. 

But  my  own  thoughts  have  gone  back,  especially  to  the  early  days 
of  the  parish  when  it  was  the  mother  of  many  parishes.  I  have 
asked  your  attention  to  the  days  when  a  place  for  the  Church  in 
the  Connecticut  colony  was  made  by  faithful  men  into  whose  places 
we  have  come.  I  could  hope  to  do  no  more  than  repeat  an  old 
story,  perhaps  refresh  the  memories  of  some  here  present.  But  I 
will  hope  that  I  have  led  some  to  feel  the  value  and  dignity  of  our 
inheritance  as  Connecticut  churchmen.  New  questions  and  move- 
ments in  theology  and  Church  life  arise  to  claim  our  attention,  but 
we  shall  be  poorer  for  forgetting  the  times  and  the  work  of  our 
fathers  in  the  Church  in  Connecticut.  There  are  traditions  out  of 
that  old  time  to  be  preserved.  There  are  lessons  to  be  learned.  Ours 
is  a  wider  outlook,  a  more  hopeful  time  in  which  to  work.  But 
the  self-sacrifice,  the  diligence,  the  patience  of  Connecticut  church- 
men a  century  and  one-half  ago,  give  this  church  to-day  her  posi- 
tion in  Connecticut. 


5-3  -=~^  o  £  ~  '§ 

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Hppenfcir  B. 

Bishop  Berkeley. 


A  donation  of  books  was  a  great  quickener  of  the  return  to 
the  Church  of  England,  when  Bishop  Berkeley  sent  his  library 
to  Yale  College,  New  Haven.  A  story  is  told  of  one  of  these  vol- 
umes which  illustrates  the  temper  of  the  period.  When  Bishop 
Jarvis  was  a  student  at  Yale  he  saw  a  fellow  classman  taking  out 
of  the  library  one  of  Bishop  Berkeley's  books.  "Look  out,"  he 
said,  "that  book  will  make  a  Churchman  of  you."  "Will  it?"  said 
the  student,  and  hastily  put  it  back  on  the  shelf. 

Bishop  Berkeley  lived  in  Rhode  Island,  but  his  work  there  was 
only  general  in  its  results  on  the  Church.  The  particular  way  in 
which  he  gave  the  greatest  substantial  help  to  the  Church  and  also 
to  the  colonies  at  large,  came  through  his  acquaintance  with  Dr. 
Samuel  Johnson,  one  of  the  most  prominent  of  the  American  clergy. 
Dr.  Johnson,  who  had  been  tutor  at  Yale  College  and  a  Congrega- 
tional minister,  became  convinced  of  the  truth  of  the  Church's  doc- 
trine and  discipline  and  was  now  a  faithful  missionary  in  Connecti- 
cut. He  knew  of  Dean  Berkeley,  through  his  writings,  long  before 
the  Dean  came  to  Rhode  Island,  and  he  had  a  warm  admiration  for 
his  talents  and  learning.  Naturally  Dr.  Johnson  was  among  the 
first  to  welcome  the  noted  Berkeley  to  America.  A  strong  friend- 
ship sprang  up  between  these  two  great  and  pious  men.  Dean  Berke- 
ley strengthened  Dr.  Johnson's  faith  and  through  him  influenced 
hundreds.  As  Dr.  Johnson  was  deeply  interested  in  Yale  College, 
Dean  Berkeley  gave  his  attention  to  the  then  struggling  institution. 
He  had  a  rather  large  library,  which  showed,  in  its  selection,  his 
fine  tastes,  his  genius,  and  also  his  deep  piety.  The  College  needed 
books,  as  all  schools  do.  Just  before  he  returned  to  England,  the 
Dean  distributed  part  of  his  books  among  his  friends,  but  gave  the 
bulk  of  them  to  Yale.  As  soon  as  he  reached  home,  he  collected, 
by  private  gifts,  nearly  a  thousand  volumes  which  he  also  sent  over 
to  the  College.  President  Clap  says  it  was  "the  finest  collection  of 
books  which  had  then  ever  been  brought,  at  one  time,  to  America." 


—  172— 

At  the  same  time  he  gave  the  College  his  farm  at  Newport,  whose 
income  was  to  be  given  as  prizes  to  the  best  Greek  and  Latin  students 
who  should  live  at  Yale  nine  months  each  year.  Here  in  this  centre 
of  Congregationalism,  George  Berkeley,  Priest  and  Bishop,  has  had 
a  gracious  influence. 

Another  gift  which  Dean  Berkeley  sent  from  England  was  an 
organ.  He  gave  it  to  the  town  of  Berkeley,  Mass.,  which  was  named 
after  him.  But  this  seemed  a  dangerous  gift  to  the  worthy  select- 
men, who  decided,  by  a  vote,  not  to  receive  it,  for,  as  they  said  in 
their  resolutions,  "an  organ  is  an  instrument  of  the  Devil,  for  the 
entrapping  of  men's  souls."  The  organ  then  went  to  Trinity  Church, 
Newport. 

The  Bishop's  name  is  still  borne  in  America  by  the  Berkeley 
Scholars  of  Yale  University,  by  the  Berkeley  Divinity  School  at 
Middletown,  Conn.,  and  by  the  town  of  Berkeley,  the  seat  of  the 
University  of  California. 


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-176- 

ADDITIONAL  LIST  OF  MEN  WHO  WENT  FROM  CONNECTICUT  TO  OTHER 

DIOCESES. 

1722  Rev.  Timothy  Cutler,  Massachusetts. 

1733  Rev.  Isaac  Brown,  New  York. 

1743  Rev.  Ebenezer  Thompson,  Massachusetts. 

1743  Rev.  Hezekiah  Watkins,  New  York. 

1745  Rev.  Thomas  Bradbury  Chandler, 

1749  Rev.  John  Ogilvie,  

1753  Rev.  Samuel  Seabury,  Jr.,  New  York. 

1760  Rev.  Agur  Treadwell,  — 

1761  Rev.  Ephraim  Avery,  

1768  Rev.  Abraham  Beach,  New  York. 

1769  Rev.  Luke  Babcock,  New  York. 


MEN  WHO  WENT  TO  ENGLAND  FROM   CONNECTICUT  FOR  ORDERS  AND 
WHO  DIED  OF  DISEASE,  SHIPWRECK,  OR  IN  FRENCH  CAPTIVITY. 

1722     Rev.  Daniel  Browne. 

1744  Rev.  Richardson  Minor. 

1745  Rev.  Barzillai  Dean. 

1752  Rev.  Jonathan  Colton. 

1753  Rev.  James  Usher. 
1756     Rev.  William  Johnson. 

Rev.  Samuel  Fairweather  went  from  Massachusetts  and  died  abroad. 
His  expenses  were  met  by  the  Church  people  of  Hebron  in  order  that 
he  might  return  to  them  as  their  minister. 


HppenMi  2). 


List  of  Clergymen  who  Held  Service  during  the  Revo- 
lutionary War  in  Connecticut. 


Rev.  Ebenezer  Kneeland,  died  1777,  Stratford. 

Rev.  John  Beach,  Redding,  died  1782.      (Prayed  for  the  King  in 

public  until  his  death.) 
Rev.  Samuel  Andrews,  Wallingford. 
Rev.  Gideon  Bostwick,  Great  Barrington. 
Rev.  Richard  Samuel  Clark,  New  Mil  ford. 
Rev.  Ebenezer  Dibblee,  Stamford. 
Rev.  Daniel  Fogg,  Brooklyn. 
Rev.  Bela  Hubbard,  New  Haven. 
Rev.  Abraham  Jarvis,  Middletown. 
Rev.  Richard  Mansfield,  Derby. 
Rev.  John  Rutgers   Marshall,  Woodbury.     (Held  service  in  public 

throughout  the  war.) 
Rev.  Christopher  Newton,  Ripton. 
Rev.  James   Nichols,   Plymouth. 
Rev.  James  Scoville,  Waterbury. 
Rev.  John  Tyler,  Norwich. 
Rev.  Alexander  Veits,  Simsbury  and  parts  adjacent. 


HppenMi 


Partial  list  of  men  who  have  gone  from  Connecticut  into 
the  ministry. 


FAIRFIELD    ARCHDEACONRY. 

BRIDGEPORT,  Christ  Church,  H.  M.  Sherman,  L.  N.  Booth,  Ferris 

Bishop,  G.  S.  Mallory,  D.D. 
BRIDGEPORT,    St.   Paul's    Church,    S.    M.    Holden,    G.    R.    Warner, 

Howard  LaField. 
BROOKFIELD,  J.  E.  Wildman,  P.  L.  Shepard,  F.  B.  Whitcomb,  H.  R. 

Whitlock. 

DANBURY,  Ebenezer  Dibblee,  Luther  Gregory,  Warner  Hoyt. 
DARIEN,  Rt.  Rev.  Edwin  Gardiner  Weed,  Prof.  E.  Carzon. 
EASTON,  A.  Barlow  Jennings. 

FAIRFIELD,  David  Ogden,  Abel  Ogden,  Alsop  Leffingwell. 
HUNTINGTON,  Philo  Shelton,  Ambrose  S.  Todd,  D.D.,  J.  C.  Linsley, 

S.  W.  Linsley. 

LONG  HILL,  Arthur  Burroughs. 

MONROE,  Rev.  E.  Edwards  Beardsley,  D.D.,  William  A.  Beardsley. 
NEWTOWN,   David  Botsford,   Birdseye  Glover  Noble,    Peter  Finch, 

Abel    Nichols,    George    Lewis    Foote,    F.    D.    Lobdell,    John 

Samuel  Beers,  Arthur  T.  Parsons,  F.  F.  Johnson. 
NORWALK,  St.   Paul's  Church,  Rt.   Rev.   Abraham  Jarvis,  William 

Henry  Frisbie,  James  Keeler,  LaGrand  Finney,  John  Betts, 

C.  M.  Selleck,  Thomas   Patterson,  Gregory  Patterson,  John 

Williams. 
RIDGEFIELD,    G.    E.   Lounsbury    (Governor   of   Connecticut),    E.    B. 

Taylor. 
SOUTHPORT,  Rt.  Rev.  Bishop  W.  A.  Leonard,  E.  L.  Wells,  William 

H.  Bulkley. 

STAMFORD,  St.  Andrew's  Church,  Samuel  F.  Nicholds,  S.  S.  Mitchell. 
STAMFORD,  St.  John's  Church,  T.  E.  Dibblee,  Rt.  Rev.  C.  T.  Quintard, 

Stephen  Holmes,  Rt.  Rev.  A.  H.  Vinton,  Charles  Treat,  James 

H.  Miller,  candidate. 


—179— 

STRATFORD,  John  Beach,  Benjamin  Joseph  Lamson,  Joseph  Perry, 
Timothy  Wilcoxson,  George  D.  Johnson,  William  H. 
Benjamin,  Charles  James  Sniffen,  Everett  Birdseye  Sniffen. 

WESTPORT,  Christ  Church,  James  E.  Coley,  Frank  Williams. 

WESTPORT,  Holy  Trinity  Church,  Edward  H.  Coley. 

WASHINGTON,  Nathaniel   Sheldon  Wheaton,  D.D. 

WILTON,  David  Belden,  Henry  Gregory,  John  Herbert  Betts,  Charles 
S.  M.  Belden,  Isaac  C.  Sturgis,  John  Henry  Hurlburt. 


HARTFORD    ARCHDEACONRY. 

BLOOMFIELD,  H.  H.  Holcomb  (Missionary  to  Africa),  R.  C.  Tongue. 

BROAD  BROOK,  William  Short. 

EAST  BERLIN,  one  candidate. 

EAST  HARTFORD,  H.  M.  Barbour,  M.  Saxton,  Henry  Swift  (Mis- 
sionary), H.  M.  Torbert. 

HARTFORD,  Christ  Church,  William  F.  Morgan,  D.D.,  Charles  R. 
Fisher,  Alfred  B.  Goodrich,  D.D.,  Jared  B.  Flagg,  D.D., 
Edward  O.  Flagg,  D.D.,  Reuel  H.  Tuttle,  William  Rudder, 
D.D.,  John  Brainard,  D.D.,  Francis  Goodwin,  Rt.  Rev.  Lemuel 
H.  Wells,  D.D.,  Edward  Goodridge,  Charles  H.  B.  Tremaine, 
Jacob  LeRoy,  William  M.  Chapin,  Willis  H.  Stone,  Jacob 
A.  Biddle,  Walter  T.  Cavell. 

HARTFORD,  St.  John's  Church,  T.  S.  Preston,  H.  S.  Clapp. 

HARTFORD,  St.  Thomas's  Church,  Rev.  Willis  Henri  Stone,  J.  K. 
Cook,  R.  H.  Burton. 

HARTFORD,  Trinity  Church,  George  Buck,  H.  H.  Buck,  J.  H.  Bar- 
bour, F.  W.  Harrinian,  James  Goodwin,  T.  L.  Fisher,  D.  T. 
Huntington,  G.  Brinley  Morgan. 

NEWINGTON,  Jared  Starr. 

PLAINVILLE,  C.  E.  Woodcock. 

ROCKVILLE,  George  Toop,  F.  D.  Buckley. 

SUFFIELD,  H.  A.  Pinney,  Stephen  H.  Ailing. 

TARIFFVILLE,  G.  N.  Holcomb. 

THOMPSONVILLE,  D.  L.  Sanford,  E.  L.  Sanford. 

UNIONVILLE,  J.  W.  Ellsworth,  Charles  A.  Hamilton. 

WAREHOUSE  POINT,  George  McC.  Fiske,  D.D.,  J.  F.  Sexton. 

WEST  HARTFORD,  Harry  Croswell,  D.D. 


LITCHFIELD    ARCHDEACONRY. 

BANTAM,  Hiram  Stone. 

CANAAN,  Samuel  Adam. 

EAST  PLYMOUTH,  Rt.  Rev.  Alexander  Viets  Griswold,  A.  L.  Royce, 
D.D.,  David  Bishop. 

HARWINTON,  Rodney  Rossiter,  Collis  I.  Potter. 

KENT,  Garrett  E.  Peters,  Charles  Judd. 

LITCHFIELD,  John  S.  Dewey,  Truman  Marsh,  Elijah  O.  Plumb,  W. 
H.  Lewis,  D.D.,  Rt.  Rev.  Thomas  Davies,  Rev.  Ashbell 
Baldwin,  David  Baldwin,  Truman  Marsh,  Samuel  Benedict, 
D.D.,  S.  O.  Seymour,  D.D.,  J.  F.  Plumb,  A.  E.  Beeman. 

NEW  MILFORD,  Gideon  Bostwick. 

PLYMOUTH,  Tillotson  Bronson. 

THOMASTON,  L.  J.  Belden. 

TORRINGTON,  J.  H.  Barbour,  D.D. 

SALISBURY,  Alfred  B.  Beach,  Amos  B.  Beach,  Elisha  Whittlesey, 

Davoll. 

WATERTOWN,  Chauncey  Prindle,  W.  H.  Lewis,  Jr.,  D.D.,  John  V. 
Lewis,  D.D. 

WINSTED,  Clarence  E.  Ball,  F.  E.  Buck,  U.  H.  Spencer. 

WOODBURY,  Peter  Gilchrist  Clark,  Philo  Perry. 


MIDDLESEX    ARCHDEACONRY. 

EAST  HADDAM,  William  Ackley,  F.  C.  H.  Wen  del. 

MIDDLETOWN,  Jeremiah  Learning,  D.D.,  Jasper  Davis  Jones,  Seth  B. 
Paddock,  F.  Gardiner,  Jr.,  S.  R.  Fuller,  Samuel  Fermor 
Jarvis,  Samuel  Fermor  Jarvis,  2d.  Simon  G.  Fuller. 

PON  SET,  W.  C.  Knowles. 

PORTLAND,  Asa  Cornwall,  William  Payne,  D.D.,  Samuel  Hall,  Rufus 
Emery. 

SAYBROOK,  Samuel  Hart,  D.D. 


NEW  HAVEN  ARCHDEACONRY. 

ANSONIA,  G.  A.  Alcott,  J.  Ballentine. 

BRANFORD,   Solomon   Palmer,  George  Davis,  Carlos  Linsley,  H.  B. 

Olmstead. 

CHESHIRE,  R.  Ives,  M.  Phillips,  R.  S.  Bennett. 
DERBY,  Manoah  S.  Miles,  John  D.  Smith,  Charles  H.  Proctor. 


FAIR  HAVEN,  William  H.  Vibbert,  D.D. 

GUILFORD,  Bela  Hubbard,  Samuel  Johnson,  Samuel  Beardsley,  John 
Beardsley,  Andrew  Fowler,  Bethniel  Chittenden,  G.  C. 
Griswold. 

HAMDEN,  H.  L.  Everest. 

MERIDEN,  All  Saints'  Church,  W.  H.  Jepson. 

MERIDEN,  St.  Andrew's  Church,  Charles  C.  Camp,  J.  W.  Clark. 

MILFORD,  Christopher  Newton,  David  Gibson  Tomlinson. 

NAUGATUCK,  Prof.  E.  E.  Johnson,  L.  C.  Stevens,  E.  S.  Lines,  D.D., 
Richard  Saunders. 

NEW  HAVEN,  Christ  Church,  Rt.  Revs.  C.  B.  Brewster,  F.  M. 
Burgess,  Benjamin  Brewster,  William  Brewster. 

NEW  HAVEN,  Grace  Church,  G.  T.  Linsley. 

NEW  HAVEN,  St.  Luke's  Church,  William  Heritage. 

NEW  HAVEN,  5V.  Paul's  Church,  C.  L.  Pardee,  L.  A.  Parsons,  A.  C. 
Jones,  F.  D.  Lobdell,  Daniel  W.  Wright,  M.  S.  Runkle,  Carroll 
Perry,  C.  W.  Nauman,  R.  Bell,  Cornelius  B.  Smith,  D.D., 
Rt.  Rev.  Alexander  Mackay  Smith,  D.D.,  Rev.  Merritt  H. 
Wellman,  Robert  Smith,  William  K.  Douglass. 

NEW  HAVEN,  Trinity  Church,  William  Croswell,  John  S.  Dewey, 
Edward  L.  Wells,  Aubrey  S.  Darrell,  Alexander  McWhorter, 
William  G.  Sumner,  Isbon  T.  Beckwith,  Robert  G.  Osborn, 
Edward  T.  Mathison,  Lester  Bradner,  Edwin  T.  Lewis,* 
George  L.  Parker,  Joseph  A.  Stansfield.* 

NEW  HAVEN,  St.  Thomas's  Church,  W.  C.  Roberts,  Henry  Tarrant, 
George  T.  Griffith,  Benjamin  J.  Davis,  Jacob  A.  Eckstorm, 
Clarence  Lake,  Edward  Tillotson,  John  Eaton  Smith. 

NEW  HAVEN,  All  Saints'  Church,  Burton  Lee,  W.  A.  Woodford. 

NORTH  GUILFORD,  E.  T.  Mathison,  F.  H.  Mathison. 

NORTH  HAVEN,  Edward  Blakeslee,  William  H.  Bates,  Edward  F. 
Bates,  John  M.  Bates,  W.  E.  Potwine,  Francis  B.  Whitcome. 

SEYMOUR,  Trinity  Church,  John  Williams. 

WALLINGFORD,  John  Tyler,  Stephen  Beach,  A.  B.  Chapen,  W.  H. 
Jepson,  A.  L.  Whittaker. 

WATERBURY,  St.  John's  Church,  Benjamin  Benham,  Ransom  War- 
ner, Joseph  Davis  Welton,  O.  H.  Raftery,  C.  O.  Scoville. 

WATERBURY,  Trinity  Church,  Granville  Micou,  and  two  candidates. 

WEST  HAVEN,  Daniel  Brown,  Isaac  Brown,  Ebenezer  Thompson, 
Richard  Samuel  Clark,  Frank  W.  Barnett. 

*  Candidates. 


—1 82— 

NEW  LONDON  ARCHDEACONRY. 

BROOKLYN,  Joseph  Scott,  T.  B.  Fogg,  E.  R.  Brown,  F.  S.  Luther, 
Louis  A.  Lampher,  G.  I.  Brown,  R.  H.  Hatch. 

COLCHESTER,  David  Foote. 

GROTON,  Samuel   Seabury,  Rt.  Rev.  Samuel  Seabury,  D.D. 

HEBRON,  Barzillai  Dean,  Jonathan  Colton,  James  Ussher,  Samuel 
A.  Peters,  Samuel  Fairweather. 

NEW  LONDON,  William  Green,  Thomas  Winthrop  Coit,  D.D.,  Gurdon 
Salstonstall  Coit,  D.D.,  Allen  G.  Morgan,  Robert  Alexander 
Hallam,  D.D.,  Giles  H.  Deshon,  D.D.,  John  J.  Brandegee, 
D.D.,  John  Cavarly  Middleton,  S.  T.  D.,  Erastus  Huntington 
Saunders,  Charles  H.  Lester,  James  Stoddard,  A.  Judson 
Arnold,  William  M.  Grosvenor,  D.D. 

NORWICH,  Christ  Church,  John  Beardsley,  John  Tyler,  Rt.  Rev. 
Alfred  Lee,  D.D.,  Newton  Perkins,  Rt.  Rev.  B.  H.  Paddock, 
D.D.,  Rt.  Rev.  John  A.  Paddock,  D.D.,  Frank  I.  Norton. 

POQUETANUCK,  Revs.  H.  C.  Randall,  D.  Roberts. 

POMFRET,  A.  T.  Randall,  J.  H.  Gilliat,  Charles  Gilliat,  D.D. 

PUTNAM,  George  E.  Pray,  Wells  M.  Partridge. 

STONINGTON,  John  Milton  Stevens. 

In  answer  to  letters  inquiring  as  to  the  names  of  men  who  have 
entered  the  ministry  from  each  parish,  one  hundred  and  three 
parishes  sent  in  affirmative  replies.  The  names  from  these  places 
are  herewith  printed.  The  total  number,  three  hundred  and  twenty- 
seven,  shows  an  average  of  over  three  to  each  parish,  or  in  the  aver- 
age length  of  the  parish  life,  one  to  each  generation.  The  list  is  felt 
to  be  very  incomplete,  but  it  is  hoped  will  act  as  a  stimulus  to  those 
who  shall  come  after  to  offer  more  freely  of  themselves  and  of 
their  sons.  It  would  be  a  help  towards  such  an  end  if  every  parish 
could  erect  a  tablet  and  place  it  by  the  church  door  recording  the 
names  of  those  who  have  entered  the  ministry  from  its  ranks.  A 
space  could  be  left  for  future  candidates. 

This  list  is  offered  with  great  diffidence  as  most  incomplete  and 
in  the  hope  that  others  may  perfect  it.  It  may  be  noticed  that 
Connecticut  has  furnished  fifteen  bishops  from  her  sons.  Three  of 
her  own  five  Diocesans. 

LUCY  C.  JARVIS,  Editor. 


HppenMx  J\ 


Chronological  List  of  Colonial  Parishes* 


Earliest 

Name.  Mention. 

1  Stratford    1690 

2  West  Haven 

3  Southport 

4  New  London 

5  Newtown 

6  Poquetanuck 

7  Redding  

8  Hebron    

9  Norwalk  

10  Derby  

11  Ridgefield    

12  Plymouth    

13  Roxbury    

14  Woodbury    1722 

15  Bloomfield   

16  Wallingford   

17  Stamford    

18  Waterbury  

19  New  Milford 

20  Guilford    

21  Weston   

22  Litchfield  

23  Norwich   

24  North  Guilford 

25  Bridgeport  

26  Huntington 

27  Greenwich 1708 

28  Middletown  

29  New  Haven 

30  Branford   

31  Sharon  

*Chapel  built. 


First 
Service. 

1705 


1707 
I7O2 


1727 
1724 
1725 

1737 
1723 

1723 
1705 


1735 


1749* 
1730 

1748 


Parish 
Organized. 

1707 
1723 
1725 
1725 
1732 
1734 
1734 
1735 
1737 
1737 
1737 
1740 
1740 
1740 
1740 
1741 
1742 
1742 
1742 
1744 
1744 
1745 
1747 
1747 
1748 

1749 
1833 
1749 
1752 
1752 
1754 


— 184— - 

32  North  Haven  1722                1759 

33  Cheshire   1729                1760 

34  Tashua    1760 

35  Danbury    1728                1762 

36  Hartford    1762 

37  Easton    1763 

38  Northford   1763 

39  Oxford    1764 

40  Watertown   1764 

41  Milford  1736                1764 

42  Brooklyn    1769                1770 

The  above  dates  and  order  are  the  result  of  many  comparisons  and 
are  believed  to  be  accurate.  The  editor  will,  however,  be  very  glad 
of  corrections. — L.  C.  J. 


Hppenfctr  (3 

Parochial  Genealogy  of  Connecticut 

The  following  is  an  attempt  at  a  parochial  genealogy  of  Connecti- 
cut. It  has  been  a  matter  of  interest  to  trace  the  influence  of  the 
early  Colonial  missions.  The  list  is  not  perfect,  and  the  editor 
will  gladly  receive  corrections.  Three  great  impulses  towards 
Episcopacy  can  be  traced.  The  first  visitation  of  S.  P.  G.  mission- 
aries to  New  London  in  1702,  twenty  years  later,  resulted  in  the 
foundation  of  the  mother  church  of  eastern  Connecticut,  and  indeed 
of  American  Episcopacy,  St.  James,  New  London. 

From  Trinity  Church,  New  York,  and  its  daughter,  the  old  parish 
of  Rye,  sprang  Stratford  parish,  the  mother  parish  of  the  western 
part  of  the  State.  While  from  Yale  College  professors  in  1822 
came  the  spontaneous  blossoming  of  Episcopacy  in  Central  Connecti- 
cut in  the  old  church  of  West  Haven.  The  close  relationship  of 
Rhode  Island,  Massachusetts  and  New  York,  together  with  the 
wcrk  in  Vermont  carried  by  Dr.  Peters,  is  not  our  only  contact 
with  the  other  parts  of  the  United  States ;  Minnesota  and  Kansas, 
as  well  as  Ohio,  trace  back  beginnings  to  old  parishes  in  Connec- 
ticut. 

The  editor  would  record  her  gratitude  to  Dr.  Hart,  Dr.  Lines, 
Mr.  Hooper  and  Mr.  Harriman  for  assistance  and  advice,  as  well 
as  to  Mr.  Mansfield  and  Mr.  Tuttle  for  their  hearty  cooperation  in 
the  work  of  preparing  this  volume. 

LUCY  C.  JARVIS. 

I.    WESTERN    CONNECTICUT. 

TRINITY   CHURCH,    NEW   YORK. 

RYE,  NEW  YORK. 

1707    STRATFORD. 

1725     FAIRFIELD. 

1742     STAMFORD. 

1749     Greenwich. 

1862     Round  Hill. 
1894     Riverside. 

By  ram. 

Glenville. 


— 186— 

1707    STRATFORD  (continued). 
1762     DANBURY. 

1856     Darien. 
1865     St.  Andrew's. 
STAMFORD.     ST.  LUKE'S. 
STAMFORD.     EMMANUEL. 
1734     REDDING. 

1744      Weston. 
1763     E  as  ton. 

1737       NORWALK. 

1791     New  Canaan. 

1802      Wilton. 

1853      Westport,   Christ. 

1860     Westport,   Holy  Trinity. 
1868     South  Norwalk. 
1890     Norwalk,   Grace. 

1739       RlDGEFIELD. 

1748     STRATFIELD  (NOW  BRIDGEPORT,  ST.  JOHN'S). 
1851     Bridgeport,   Christ  Church. 
1858     Bridgeport,   Church  of  the  Nativity. 
1858     Bridgeport,   St.  Paurs. 
1863     Bridgeport,    Trinity. 

Bridgeport,   St.  Luke's  Mission. 
Bridgeport,   St.   George's  Mission. 
1732     NEWTOWN. 

1742     NEW  MILFORD. 

Great  Barrington,  Mass. 
1787     Harwinton. 

1843     Torrington. 

1900    Harwinton,  Redivivus. 
1800     BRIDGEWATER. 
1802     BROOKFIELD. 

ZOAR  (DBF.). 

1880    SANDY  HOOK. 

1739  RlDGEFIELD. 

1740  ROXBURY. 
1740    WOODBURY. 

1794    WASHINGTON. 

1807     BETHLEHEM. 

1847     SOUTHBURY. 
1749     RIPTON. 

1897     SHELTON. 
1764    MILFORD. 


-i87- 

II.     CENTRAL  CONNECTICUT. 

1722     YALE  COLLEGE  PROFESSORS'  "CONVERSION"  TO  EPISCOPACY. 

1723    WEST   HAVEN. 
1737     DERBY. 

1740      SlMSBURY   AND   PARTS   ADJACENT. 

Springfield,  Mass. 

1762     Hartford,  Christ  Church. 

1840     Hartford,  St.  John's. 
1849     Tariffville. 
1859     Trinity. 

Grace  Chapel. 

1865  East  Hartford,  St.  John's. 

1866  Church  of  the  Good  Shepherd. 
1870     St.  Thomas's. 

1878     St.  James's. 

Farmington  Mission. 

1845    Unionville. 
East  Hartford. 
Niantic. 
1769     Oxford. 
1849     Ansonia. 

1892     Ansonia,  Immanuel. 

1740  PLYMOUTH. 

1787  EAST  PLYMOUTH. 
PARIS,  N.  Y. 

ASHTABULA,  OHIO. 

EAST  PLYMOUTH,  OHIO. 

CAMBRIDGE,  ILL. 

1869    THOMASTON. 

1741  WALLINGFORD. 

1742  WATERBURY,  ST.  JOHN'S. 

1764    WATERTOWN. 

Oakville. 

1877    WATERBURY,  TRINITY. 
1896    WATERVILLE. 

1744     GUILFORD. 

1747     NORTH  GUILFORD. 

I800       KlLLINGWORTH. 

1749     MIDDLETOWN,  HOLY   TRINITY. 

1788  PORTLAND. 

1790  ESSEX. 

1791  EAST  HADDAM. 

1869    MIDDLETOWN,  CHRIST  CHURCH. 


— 188— 

1723    VEST  HAVEN  (continued). 

1752     NEW  HAVEN,  TRINITY.* 

1844  ST.  LUKE'S. 

1845  ST.  PAUL'S. 

St.  Paul's,  Leavenworth,  Kan. 
St.   Paul's,  Minneapolis,   Minn, 
1764    MILFORD. 

1760    CHESHIRE. 
1789    MERIDEN,  ST.  ANDREW'S. 
1871     Yalesville. 
1893     Meriden,  All  Saints. 

III.     EASTERN  CONNECTICUT. 

FIRST  MISSIONARIES  OF  THE  S.  P.  G.  IN  CONNECTICUT,  1702, 
GEORGE  KEITH  AND  JOHN  TALBOT,  NEW  LONDON. 


1725    NEW  LONDON. 

1734  POQUETANUCK. 

1747     NORWICH,  CHRIST  CHURCH. 
1 849     Norwich,    Trinity. 

1853     Yantic. 
1882     Greeneville. 

Jewett  City. 

1769    BROOKLYN. 

1828     Pom  fret. 

Putnam. 

Abington. 

1832     Windham. 

Willimantic. 

Danielson. 

Moosup. 

Canterbury  (Def.) 

Central  Village  (Def.) 

1735  HEBRON.f 

1865     COLCHESTER. 
1847     STONINGTON. 
1865     MYSTIC. 
1884     GROTON. 

*  The  other  New  Haven  parishes  are  of  joint  or,  as  in  the  case  of  St.  Thomas's, 
independent  organizations.  But  Trinity  may  be  termed  the  mother  church  of  the 
city. 

t  Through  Rev.  Samuel  Peters,  Pre-Revolutionary  rector  of  Hebron,  the  church 
was  planted  all  through  the  Vermont  Valley.  Dr.  Peters  was  elected  the  first  Bishop 
of  Vermont,  but  never  consecrated. 


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